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THE GIFT OF TONGUES 
ALEXANDER MACKIE 



O grant us light, that we may see 
W here error lurks in human lore, 
And turn our doubting minds to Thee, 
And love Thy simple word the more, 

Laurence Tuttiett. 



THE 

GIFT OF TONGUES 

A STUDY IN PATHOLOGICAL ASPECTS 
OF CHRISTIANITY 

BY 

ALEXANDER MACKIE 

MINISTER OF THE TULLY MEMORIAL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
OF SHARON HILL, PENNSYLVANIA 




NEW ^LS^ YORK 
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 






f h 



COPYRIGHT, 1 921, 
BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 



DEC 28 1321 






PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



^ 



©CU653257 



TO 

THE GREATER GLORY OF GOD 

AND 
IN LOVING MEMORY OF 

ALEXANDER JOHN HOWIE MACKIE 
1859-1913 



'Edv reus yk&vvais tcoz> avdpccTrcav XaXw 
Kal Tcbv ayyk\oov, ayinriqv bl ^ €.%&, yeyova 



PREFACE 

The science of Pathology has contributed in no incon- 
siderable degree to the physical and physiological well- 
being of the human body. A science of Pathology in the 
realm of those things which are popularly called spiritual 
can contribute in like and, perhaps, in even greater degree 
to the well-being of the human soul. 

It ought to be a matter of popular knowledge that 
some states of mind and some states of action which are 
called spiritual, and which are claimed to be spiritual, 
are called spiritual and claimed to be spiritual simply 
because they are unusual. It ought to be a matter of 
common knowledge that such states of mind and action 
are the expressions of diseased minds and diseased bodies, 
that when we are dealing with an extraordinary religious 
experience we are very likely to be dealing with disease. 
It ought to be a matter of common knowledge that his- 
torically such religious experiences are practically always 
associated with anti-moral conduct, and more particularly 
with transgressions of accepted moral standards in the 
vita sexualis. 

This discussion of the gift of tongues is certainly not 
exhaustive. The present day tongues people, for example, 
have not even been discussed. But the mental traits and 
the physiological traits of the Shakers, the Irvingites and 
the primitive Mormons are the mental traits and the 
physiological traits of the present day tongues people, 
and, in fact, of that increasing group of earnest but un- 
thinking Christians who are convinced of the present 

vii 



viii PREFACE 

revival in their various aspects of the apostolic charis- 
mata. 

If this book shall serve to shed even a faint ray of light 
upon the kingdom of truth, I shall be profoundly grate- 
ful. 

A. M. 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 



CHAPTER I: THE GIFT OF TONGUES IN 

THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH .... 17 

Theories concerning the gift all open to objections. 

The Mythical theory. 

The Narrative in Acts regarded as a history — a miracle 
of speaking — a miracle of hearing — a permanent endow- 
ment, or an epideiktic miracle. 

"The eighteen benedictions." An archaic language. A 
tongue controlled by God. 

Other references to the tongues. Considerations based on 
the Greek terminology. The tongues probably a dis- 
orderly ecstasy. 

CHAPTER II: SOME FORMS OF RELATED 
PHYSIOLOGICAL AND PSYCHOLOGI- 
CAL PHENOMENA 26 

References to the gift in patristic literature: Irenaeus; 
Tertullian. 

The reformation and the revival of tongues. 

Speaking in other languages viewed by the mediaeval mind 
as a sign of divine favor: St. Francis Xavier; St. 
Hildegarde. 

As a sign of demon influence: The Alchemists; Roger 
Bacon and the Brazen Head. 

As a sign of a distemper. 

For a warning against impending danger. 

In witchcraft. Evil spirits understand other languages. 

The magic power of a name. The name Jehovah. Names 
written on charms. 

Among primitive peoples: Names dangerous to pro- 
nounce. 

Healing words. Mr. Austin; Anthony Knivet. 

ix 



x CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Words used in exorcisms. The language of sorcery. 

Magic formulae of witchcraft. 
The use of meaningless words in songs. 
Hepworth Dixon and the Agapemone. 

The semi-insane and the semi-responsible. Criminal 
argot. 

Religious movements in the Middle Ages of an abnormal 
motor character. 

The Pastoreaux. The children of the Amsterdam Orphan 
House. St. Brigette's Convent, etc. Rev. John Mason. 

Revival phenomena: George Fox, John Wesley, Charles 
Wesley, Band Room Methodists. Jumpers. Redruth 
Chapel. The Kentucky Revival. 

Spiritualism. The Amana Community. Trance Preach- 
ing. Mediumistic utterances. Charles H. Foster. 

CHAPTER III : THE URSULINE NUNS AND 

THE DEVILS OF LOUDUN . . . . 58 

The Carmelite miracles. 

The Ursuline Convent. 

Urban Grandier — his personality — his enemies. 

The Ursuline nuns become demon-possessed. Characteris- 
tics of the possession. 

Louis XIII causes a formal investigation. 

Grandier accused. 

The possessed are found to be able to speak foreign lan- 
guages. 

Evidences of fraud. 

Grandier put to death. 

CHAPTER IV : THE CAMISARDS OR FRENCH 

PROPHETS 70 

The name Camisard. 
The origin of the movement. 
The method of inducing the prophetic spirit. 
Migration to England of Marion, Cavalier, and Fage. 
Sir Richard Bulkeley. 
Camisard prophecies and miracles. 
> Betty Gray restored to sight. 
Fage, Cavalier and others speak in tongues. 
Sexual irregularities. 



CONTENTS xi 

PAGE 

CHAPTER V: THE SHAKERS AND THE 

MILLENNIAL CHURCH 82 

The French prophets and the Wardleys. 

Ann Lee — her family, social position and leadership of the 
Society. 

The sexual life revealed to be the root of human depravity. 

Ann Lee's imprisonment. 

Her religious experiences. 

The Shakers emigrate to America. 

Early proselyting and persecutions. 

Character of Ann Lee. Her gifts as a prophet or seer. 
She works miracles. 

Other views of her character. 

Shaker practice of dancing naked ; promiscuous bathing 
as a religious rite ; tendencies toward perversion in the 
vita sexualis; exhibitionism; mortification gifts; flagel- 
lation. 

After the death of Ann Lee. 

Joseph Meacham and Lucy Wright. 

The Kentucky revival. 

Shaker theology. The nature of God. The millennium. 

Their religious exercises: Dances and gifts, the jerks, 
the laughing gift. 

The tongues among the Shakers. 

Cases of tongues: Ann Lee; Father William; Seth 
Youngs ; Latin spoken. 

Brown's experiences : Eleazar Rand ; Lamson ; Betsey 
Looge; Eunice Chapman; Dr. Dwight. The wordless 
songs. 

CHAPTER VI : REV. EDWARD IRVING AND 
THE CATHOLIC APOSTOLIC CHURCH 
OR IRVINGITES 129 

Rev. Edward Irving — his birth, early life, and education 

— life in London. 
Opinions regarding Irving: Thomas Carlyle; James 

Bridges; Barry Cornwall; Meade C. Williams. 
Irving's alleged lack of a sense of humor — his eagerness 

for the supernatural — his utter want of common sense. 

At the "York" in Prince's Street. Mr. Craig's story. 

Dr. Chalmers' estimate of Irving. 
Irving and the London Missionary Society. The visit of 



xii CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Chalmers and Irving to Coleridge. Irving as a 
preacher. Lockhart characterizes him as "pure hum- 
bug." His lectures at St. Andrews. Irving's manner- 
isms. The London Times as quoted by Washington 
Wilks. 

Trial of Edward Irving before a Court of Common Sense. 
Fraser's Magazine on "On the Rev. Edward Irving and 
His Adversaries." Kirkcaldy Kirk and Carlyle's 
baker. Addison Alexander's description of Irving. 
Irving translates "The Coming of the Messiah," etc. 

Henry Drummond and the Albury Prophetic Conference. 

Robert Story of Rosneath. Isabella Campbell and 
"Peace in Believing." Extraordinary religious experi- 
ence. Mary Campbell becomes her successor. Her 
interest in missions. Her lack of interest in household 
duties. Mr. Story and the missionaries. 

Rev. A. J. Scott and the Campbells. 

First appearance of the tongues. 

The Macdonalds. Margaret Macdonald miraculously 
healed. Mary Campbell also healed. Speaking in 
tongues at Port Glasgow. First manifestation of the 
tongues in London. 

Trial of Mr. Campell and Mr. Maclean for heresy. 

Mr. Taplin speaks in tongues in Irving's Church. Sun- 
day, October 1, 1831, and the first manifestation of the 
tongues at a regular morning service. 

Disturbance at the evening service. Description of the 
scenes at Irving's Church. Robert Bridges. 

Robert Baxter. His experiences and gifts. Baxter's 
prophecies. The visit to the Chancellor. 

Thomas Erskine of Linlathen. 

Contradictory prophecies and disagreements among the 
prophets. 

The language of the tongues and various specimens. 

Mary Campbell and automatic writing. 

The tongues an unknown language. 

Irving tried and condemned for heresy. Death of Irving. 
The Catholic Apostolic Church. 

CHAPTER VII: THE MORMONS OR THE 
CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF THE 
LATTER DAY SAINTS 198 

Joseph Smith, Jr. His family and early life. 
Joseph Smith, Jr., and Joseph Smith, Sr., practice 
divination. 



CONTENTS xiii 

PAGE 

Joseph Smith, Jr., converted, and beholds a vision. 

The Angel Moroni appears. 

The Golden Plates found. 

Smith's marriage. 

Translation of the Golden Plates. 

Martin Harris and Professor Anthon. 

Method of translating the plates. 

Harris, Cowdery and the baptism of Smith and Cowdery. 

Contents of the Book of Mormon. 

The Spaulding theory. 

The Urim and Thummim, crystal-gazing and Dr. Dee. 

The Mormon Church organized. 

Sidney Rigdon and the Kirtland ecstasies. 

Joseph Smith, Jr., alone to receive revelations. 

The tongues appear. 

Method of speaking in tongues. 

The Choctaw language an unknown tongue. 

Gunnison's incident of the tongues. 

Peter Cartwright and the tongues. 

Other incidents. 

Dedication of Kirtland temple. Brigham Young speaks 
in tongues. 

The Kirtland Safety Bank. 

Settlement at Far West. 

Settlement and prosperity at Nauvoo. 

The Nauvoo Temple. 

Revelation on polygamy and Smith's extra-marital re- 
lationships. 

Smith's personality. His shrewd common sense. 

Caswell, the psalter, and the Kirtland mummies. 

Egyptology and the translation of the Book of Abraham. 

Smith's fondness for unusual words. 

Origin of the word "Mormon." 

CHAPTER VIII: PHYSIOLOGICAL AND PSY- 
CHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF THE GIFT 250 

The tongues always first manifested in a diseased person : 
Ann Lee, Mary Campbell, the Macdonalds, Joseph 
Smith, Jr., Sidney Rigdon. 

Associated pathological phenomena. The "falling exer- 
cise," "the jerks," "whirling gift," "dumb devils," 
"barks," "tactile anaesthesia," the "laughing gift." 



XIV 



CONTENTS 



PAGB 



The atavistic element in the tongues. 

Disturbances in the vita sexualis. Perverse sexual ten- 
dencies among the Shakers. 

Egomania. Pathological lying. 

Eagerness for the supernatural. 

Vanity. 

Imitation. 

Contagion. 

Aversion to culture. 

The tongues as language. Their thought content. 

The mental state involved similar to that in alcoholic in- 
toxication, epilepsy or in coitu. 

CHAPTER IX: ETHICAL ASPECTS OF THE 
GIFT 

The necessity for an ethical expression of religion. 

Crimes associated with the tongues movement. Sexual 
irregularities. Injustices to women and children. 

Crimes of violence. The Camisards. < The Mountain 
Meadows Massacre. Judicial crimes in witchcraft. 

Dishonesty. The Shakers. The Kirtland Bank. Pious 
frauds. Betty Gray. 

The Shaker psychological fraud. The tragedy of Ed- 
ward Irving. 

The crime against intelligence. 

The tongues peoples related to the criminaloid type. 

The nature of religion and the nature of the tongues. 



265 



THE GIFT OF TONGUES 



L 



THE 
GIFT OF TONGUES 

CHAPTER I 

THE GIFT OF TONGUES IN THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH 

There is no wholly satisfactory solution of the prob- 
lems raised by the accounts of the gift of tongues as 
those narratives appear in the New Testament. Any 
solution which we adopt involves difficulties, uhe most 
easy solution of all New Testament problems is, of 
course, the purely arbitrary but not unpopular one of 
regarding as textual interpolations such New Testament 
passages as involve difficulty in exegesis.: But such a 
position in reference to the manifestations of the tongues 
in the New Testament record involves a multiplicity of 
contradictions and difficulties so great that we are obliged 
to look in another direction for the solution of our prob- 
lem. 

If we accept a late date for the writing of the Acts, and 
eliminate from our consideration the references to the 
tongues in the Corinthian Epistles, it is possible to recog- 
nize in the account of Pentecost a tradition, modified by 
an idealizing and myth-making tendency. Just as, ac- 
cording to Rabbinic tradition, the giving of the old law 
on Mt. Sinai was characterized by the speaking of Je- 
hovah in a divine language, a language which could be 
understood in seventy different tongues, so the estab- 

17 



18 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

lishing of the new church and the beginning of a new 
spiritual order might fittingly and desirably be accom- 
panied by a supernaturally-directed speaking in other 
tongues. Such an interpretation of the narrative of Pen- 
tecostal tongues has the merit of being well within the 
realm of psychological possibilities. It involves, however^ 
the task not only of disproving an early date for Acts, and 
the interpreting of the later cases of glossolalia on some 
other basis than the basis adopted for interpreting the 
Pentecostal tongues, but it involves also all the gratuitous 
assumptions and arbitrary exegeses which are inextric- 
ably involved in a mythological interpretation of the New 
Testament, making the myth indeed the child of the wish, 
not in this case, however, the wish of the myth-maker, 
but the wish and even caprice of the New Testament in- 
terpreter and exegete. 

A third solution of the problem is to be found in re- 
garding the narrative of Pentecost as history. But merely 
to say that we are dealing with history, with events which 
occurred, not with events which ought to have occurred 
to have afforded what is conceived to have been a proper 
setting for the early days of the Christian Church, does 
not by any means solve the problem. We are still obliged 
carefully to study our text in order to arrive at some 
conclusion as to what actually happened at Pentecost: 

"And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to 
speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. 

And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out 
of every nation under heaven. 

Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came to- 
gether, and were confounded, because that every man heard 
them speak in his own language. 

And they were all amazed, and marvelled, saying one to an- 
other, Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans? 

And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we 
were born? 

Parthians, and Medes and Elamites, and the dwellers in Meso- 
potamia, and in Judea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia. 



IN THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH 19 

Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya 
about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes. 

Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues 
the wonderful works of God." * 

What is the real nature of the event that is thus de- 
scribed ? 

The most common interpretation of the passage is 
found in the postulating of a miracle as a result of which 
all or some of the Christians present were enabled to 
speak in foreign languages which they had never studied 
and in which they had never before spoken. The ques- 
tion then arises as to whether this endowment was tempo- 
rary or permanent. The theory of a permanent endow- 
ment with ability to speak heretofore unknown languages 
involves several objections. One is based on the tradi- 
tion that the apostles in their missionary journeys were 
accompanied by men who acted for them as interpreters. 
The case of Mark acting as interpreter for Peter is par- 
ticularly cited in this connection. 2 Another objection is 
based on the experience of Paul and Barnabas at Lys- 
tra, 3 where the missionaries were certainly unaware of 
what was being said "in the speech of Lycaonia," until 
their attention was attracted by the visible preparations 
for doing sacrifice in their honor. 

To avoid these difficulties, it has been suggested that 
the Pentecostal endowment was not permanent but tem- 
porary, that the gift was not to facilitate the preaching 
of the gospel to the heathen world, but as a demonstra- 
tion of the power of God. We deal in this case, then, 
with an epideiktic miracle. For the world of to-day an 
epideiktic miracle can have little value. For the world 
of the apostles, with its exceedingly primitive mental 
traits in spite of its veneer of civilisation, it is altogether 

1 Acts 2: 4-1 1. 

3 Cf. Eusebius: "Church History," III, xxxix, 15. 

'Acts 14: 8-18. 



20 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

conceivable that an epideiktic miracle could possess an 
element of value. When we deal with the primitive 
church, it is well to remember, whether it be in matters 
ecclesiastical or psychological, we are dealing with primi- 
tive men. 

The theory that the Pentecostal gift of tongues was not 
a miracle of speaking but a miracle of hearing found 
among some of the thinkers of the Christian church, an 
early and ready acceptance. Stress was laid upon verse 
8 and particularly upon the word "hear" : 

"And how hear we every man in our own tongue, 
wherein we were born?" 

The miracle, according to this view, was wrought in 
the hearers, not in the speakers. This interpretation has 
nothing about it which either specially commends or con- 
demns it. It does away with the historical difficulty in- 
volved in the theory of a permanent endowment with an 
ability to speak foreign languages. It involves, however, 
the vague objection that it may seem to be both artificial 
and contrary to the general sense of the entire passage. 

Stress is laid by other students of the phenomenon upon 
the fact that the element of praise seems to be conspicu- 
ous in the account of the tongues at Pentecost : 

"We do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful 
works of God." 

It is praise which forms the content of the tongues. 
It has even been suggested that definite ascriptions of 
praise might have constituted that which was said. 

"We most naturally, I believe," writes Chase, 1 "pic- 
ture the Apostles, like Zacharias in much earlier days 
when he was 'filled with the Holy Ghost' (Luke 1 : 67ft), 

1 Chase, Frederic Henry: "The Credibility of the Book of the Acts of the 
Apostles," London, 1902, pp. 38-40. 



IN THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH 21 

as bursting forth into 'benedictions' drawn from the rich 
liturgical store of the Jewish Church — such as we find, 
for example, in that most ancient service of praise and 
prayer, the Eighteen Benedictions. But the Apostles 
spoke the praises of God in different languages. That 
is, plainly, the writer's meaning. Now there is evidence 
that the authorities in Palestine sanctioned the use of any 
language whatever in repeating the Shema, the Eighteen 
Benedictions, and the Grace at Meals. At other feasts, 
then, the Apostles had heard strangers of the Dispersion 
reciting these doxologies in the various languages most 
familiar to them. Now they in turn themselves, seeing 
before them Jewish worshippers from many countries, 
with memories supernaturally quickened, recall and re- 
hearse in the different languages the accustomed words 
of praise. 

"Here, too, St. Luke discerned a symbolical meaning. 
The new spiritual endowment of the Church inaugurates 
a reversal of the curse of separation. What we may 
term the very accidents accompanying the advent of the 
Spirit are a pledge of the catholicity of the Church — a 
sign that the Church should be the one home of men of 
every language and race (comp. Col. 3: 11). The his- 
torian recalls the language of the ancient story which 
told of the confusion of tongues (Gen. xi:7fl) ; and it is 
plain that his language in recording the events of Pente- 
cost is moulded by the remembrance." 

Similar to such a theory is the general notion frequent- 
ly expressed that the words spoken were archaic, figura- 
tive and unusual, and for that reason might be called 
"other tongues." 

Another interpretation has been found in regarding 
the Irkpais yX&aaais as figurative. The tongues are other 
tongues because they are now controlled by the Spirit 



22 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

of God. Before the bestowing of the gift, each man 
controlled his own tongue. After the bestowal, God 
controls the tongue directly. The tongue is independent 
of the will of man and is directly dependent upon the 
will of God. 

So far, we have tended to ignore the fact that the 
New Testament contains references to the appearance of 
the gift of tongues, not only at Pentecost, but in con- 
nection with the conversion of Cornelius, in connection 
with the advent of the Holy Ghost at Ephesus, and in 
connection with the church at Corinth. If we eliminate 
the account of the tongues at Pentecost on the ground of 
a textual interpolation, or if we treat the Pentecostal 
narrative as the expression of a myth-making tendency, 
we have still failed to deal with the subsequent appear- 
ances of the same phenomena. We are forced then to a 
second explanation and a second theory for the interpret- 
ing of our data. 

There is, however, very good reason to believe that the 
phenomena described as tongues in the New Testament 
are in their general nature everywhere substantially the 
same. By his express statement : 

"And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on 
them, as on us at the beginning," x St. Peter seems to 
identify the manifestations at Csesarea with the Pente- 
costal occurrences. It requires a very arbitrary and ar- 
tificial exegesis of Acts 19:6 to suppose that except from 
the point of view of grammatical construction eXaKow 
yXuaacus in that passage means something different from 
\a\ovvTcoy vXivsaoxr in Acts 10:46. In like manner also, 
we are guilty of an arbitrary and artificial exegesis, for 
which there is no foundation in the text or in logic, and 
no foundation in psychology, except the a priori desire 
on our part to substantiate a theory, when we insist that 

*Acts 11:15. 



IN THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH 23 

XaXcoz> yXwo-077 or Xae\ii> 7X0)0- trats or y\6)(T(7aLs \a\cbv in First 
Corinthians 14 : 2, 4, and 5, means anythingfundamentally 
different from the accepted meaning of similar terms when 
they are used in the Acts. 

In the Corinthian account, two definite characteristics 
of the tongues stand out clearly. The first is that the 
tongues are not a known or understandable language and 
require, that they may be used for edification, the gift of 
the interpretation of tongues. The second is that to the 
person not familiar with these phenomena and therefore 
not inclined to interpret the tongues on the basis of a 
theory that the tongues are spiritual in their nature, 
those speaking in the tongues seem to be mad. 

The word used by St. Paul and translated as meaning 
mad is a form of a verb used frequently to signify Bac- 
chic or prophetic frenzy. To the observer, unprejudiced 
by notions which had grown up in the Christian church 
as to the nature of the tongues, the behaviour of a per- 
son speaking with tongues was no different from the 
familiar conduct of the (xclvtls. It is of further signifi- 
cance that it was only in Corinth, a centre of Greek 
religious influence, that the tongues attained to so great 
a degree of prominence in the Christian church, as to de- 
mand extended discussion in an apostolic epistle. The 
association of ecstasy and immorality in the Corinthian 
church might here also be justly remarked. 

Let us turn back to the account of events at Pentecost. 
The opening words of St. Peter's sermon are the familiar 
ones, 

"For these are not drunken as ye suppose." * 

The verb yedvano) here used in its passive voice to de- 
note drunkenness, is a verb of connotations not unrelated 
to Bacchic frenzy. The charge of drunkenness at Pente- 

1 Acts 2:15. 



24 THE .GIFT OF TONGUES 

cost may justly be regarded as of the same nature as the 
charge of madness at Corinth. 

Consideration also must be given to the use of the verb 
XaX€«> in describing the speaking with tongues in con- 
nection with the Pentecostal phenomena at Csesarea, at 
Ephesus and at Corinth, \a\ew is an onomatopoetic 
word, the primary significance of which is found in the 
English equivalent "lalling." It is a word sometimes 
applied to birds, and may mean to chirp, or to twitter. 
It may be taken to mean to babble, or to chatter. The 
suggestion that the word y^&ava might be taken in the 
sense of an archaic language has already been noted. It 
has also been suggested that the use of the word con- 
notes a special stress upon the organ of speech itself 
rather than upon speaking. The phrase XaXetv yX&aaais, 
using this latter sense of TXcoo-cra, may well be taken 
therefore to involve the notion of the disconnected, un- 
meaning use of the tongue for the making of sounds. 

The word <t>wri used in Acts 2 :6, is also to be 
taken into consideration, and the possibility of translating 
the phrase in which it occurs as "when this became a 
noise," to be reckoned with. In other words, the terms 
used in the accounts of the tongues are words such as 
would suggest disorderly, rather than orderly speaking, 
and the uttering of sounds rather than words, or at best 
words which were not connected with other words in 
such a manner as to express coherent thought. 

A further difficulty may here present itself, in the 
interpretation of the phenomenon at Pentecost and at 
Corinth on the same basis of a disorderly ecstasy. In 
the account of the Pentecostal gift, stress is laid upon 
the speaking in the languages of a number of countries. 
It has been suggested that some one of three languages, 
the East Aramaic, the West Aramaic, and the Greek 
would have been understandable in each of the countries 



IN THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH 25 

named. It is not unreasonable psychologically to sup- 
pose that the disorderly speaking at Pentecost included 
fragments of all three of these languages released by the 
subconscious minds of men speaking in a state of great 
excitement. 

In view of considerations which will appear in our fur- 
ther discussion of the gift of tongues, and in accord also 
with such evidence as we have concerning the phenomena 
in New Testament times, it is possible to defend the po- 
sition that the gift of tongues was and is similar to the 
ecstasies associated with the Greek mystery religions. It 
is possible to suggest that at the very beginning of the 
life of the Christian church, it was face to face with the 
struggle which it still must wage — the struggle against 
pagan ideas and pagan practices within its own doors. 



CHAPTER II 

SOME FORMS OF RELATED PHYSIOLOGICAL AND PSYCHO- 
LOGICAL PHENOMENA 

In patristic literature there is no considerable record 
of the manifestation of the gift of tongues. Irenseus 
believed that he was familiar with cases of genuinely 
miraculous appearances of some forms of the charismata, 
included in which he mentions the gift of prophecy and 
the gift of healing. He goes so far in the latter case as 
to write : 

"Yea, moreover, as I have said, the dead even have been 
raised up, and remained among us for many years." x 

Whether we are justified in interpreting in this case the 
statement just quoted as meaning that Irenseus believed 
himself to have been an eye-witness to a resurrection or 
resurrections, or whether he writes on the authority of 
another, or whether he is simply here referring to the 
miracles of the apostolic age, we are not justified in 
concluding absolutely from the text. 

In the following familiar passage, Irenasus refers to 
the gift of tongues : 

"In like manner we do also hear many brethren in the 
Church, who possess prophetic gifts, and who through the 
Spirit of God do speak in all languages, as He used Him- 
self also to speak." 2 

1 Irenaeus: "Against Heresies," II: 32:4- 
3 Same: V: 6:1. 

26 



SOME FORMS OF RELATED PHENOMENA 27 

Tertullian also refers to the charismata of his day and 
demands of Marcion as a supernatural attestation of his 
mission that he 

"produce a psalm, a vision, a prayer — only let it be by the 
Spirit, in an ecstasy, that is, in a rapture, whenever an in- 
terpretation of tongues has occurred to him. . . ." 

"Now all these signs of spiritual gifts," Tertullian adds, 
"are forthcoming from my side without any difficulty." x 

From patristic times until the power of the reforma- 
tion had made itself distinctly felt the gift of tongues is 
an almost forgotten phenomenon. The attention which 
the Reformation drew to the Scriptures is the reason for 
the reappearance of the gift. Men do not usually have 
the gift of tongues unless they know there is a gift of 
tongues. The revival of the Bible made also necessary 
in some minds a revival of states of mind and actions 
such as were those of the men who lived in Bible times 
and who were esteemed holy. During the long silence 
of those weary centuries there was evidence, however, 
of those psychological and physiological tendencies and 
actions which we find go hand in hand with the appear- 
ance of the gift in the history of the Corinthian church, 
or in the history of all of the more modern sects which 
we shall discuss. Simply because the ages preceding the 
Reformation were deficient in a Scriptural vocabulary 
we fail to find these phenomena described and classified 
as related to the gift of tongues. 

Let us note the psychological evidences of states of 
mind analogous to the mental attitude of modern tongues 
people. There is ever present that superstitious rever- 
ence which is to be observed among the ignorant and 
primitive for those who speak in other tongues. Those 
who spoke in other tongues are eminent in the common 

1 Tertullian: "Against Marcion." V: 8. 



28 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

mind of the Middle Ages either for their saintly lives, 
or for the fact of their servitude to the devil. To be 
learned seems to connote a gift, either of God or of the 
devil. St. Francis Xavier and other of the great mis- 
sionary saints are said to have been able to speak "the 
languages of many different nations without having 
studied those languages." The knowledge even of letters 
was sometimes bestowed by a miracle upon the saintly. 
Matthew Paris, writing of the rise to fame of St. Hilde- 
garde, in the year 1240, notes that she was first a recluse, 
and afterwards an abbess — a lady of remarkable sanctity 
— into whom, in her lifetime, "during a sleep of four 
days' continuance, the Lord instilled the spirit of proph- 
ecy, and a complete knowledge of letters, during the- 
pontificate of Pope Alexander." * 

On the other hand., the scholars, the alchemists, and 
their children, the scientists of the Renaissance,, were 
looked upon as being under a special compact with the 
devil, from whom came their mysterious knowledge of 
other tongues. Men like Robert of Lincoln and Michael 
Scott, 2 both eminent through the thirteenth century for 
a knowledge of Greek and Hebrew in the one case, and 
Arabic in the other, were popularly regarded as sorcerers. 
So also were Raymond Lulli and Arnold de Villeneuve, 
both eminent linguistic scholars of the fourteenth century, 
popularly feared as men skilled in sorcery. Robert of 
Lincoln, another of the alchemists, is said to "have made 
a head of brass expressly constructed in such a manner 
as to be able to answer such questions as were propounded , 
to it, and to foretell future events." 

Roger Bacon was also reputed to be in league withl 
the powers of darkness, and to have made with Friar 

1 Paris, Matthew: "English History from the Year 1235 to 1273." Translated| 
from the Latin by J. A. Giles (in the Bohn Library). London, 1852-4. Vol. I, 
p. 317- 

2 Godwin, William: "Lives of the Necromancers." London, 1834; pp. 252- 
3-4, 263, 282. 



SOME FORMS OF RELATED PHENOMENA 29 

Bungay a brazen head which also spoke when its makers 
were asleep, tired out with their long labours. The story 
of the speaking brazen head is one of the familiar stories 
of the Middle Ages, and the making of such a head is 
attributed to many great men of learning. But not only 
could these men who, in faith and never-stinted labour, 
lighted the torch, the blazing flame of which at last 
illumined the morning sky of the Renaissance and the 
Reformation, speak the ancient languages, but such was 
their power that they could cause even the inanimate to 
speak. 1 

Fluency of speech and the speaking of mysterious 
words are often looked upon as a sign of possession by 
an evil spirit. One of the charges brought against Eliza- 
beth Barton, the Maid of Kent, famous in the annals of 
sixteenth century witchcraft, was based upon her speaking 
in what was described as a manner above her usual dis- 
course. Similar charges were common against witches 
and the bewitched. 

The ability to speak other languages was viewed some- 
times not only as an evidence of a Satanic possession, but 
as a possession analogous to a distemper, which could 
sometimes be remedied by the use of drugs. 

"Pomponatius writes that the wife of Francis Maigret, 
savetier of Mantua, spoke divers languages, and was 
cured by Calderon, a physician, famous in his time, who 
gave her a portion of Hellebore. Erasmus says also that 
he had seen an Italian, a native of Spoletta, who spoke 
German very well, although he had never been in Ger- 
many; they gave him a medicine which caused him to 
eject a quantity of worms, and he was cured, not to 
speak German any more." 2 

1 See Purchas, Samuel : "Hakluytas Posthumus or Purchas His Pilgrimes, 
etc." Glasgow, 1905. Vol. XVII, p. 360. Godwin: op. cit., p. 232. 
a Calmet, Augustine: "The Phantom World." London, 1880. Vol. I, p. 18s. 



30 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

Sometimes words from foreign languages were used 
as a means of warning men against impending calamity, 
and by the mysterious way in which they were conveyed, 
indicated their relation to magic. 

"A man who did not know a word of Greek came to 
M. de Saumaise, senior, a counsellor of the parliament 
of Dijon, and showed him these words, which he had 
heard during the night as he slept, and which he wrote 
down in French characters on awakening: 'Apithi ouc 
osphraine ten sen apsychian.' He asked him what that 
meant. M. de Saumaise told him it meant, 'Save your- 
self; do you not perceive the death with which you are 
threatened?' Upon this hint, the man removed, and 
left his house, which fell down the following night. 

"The same story is related, with a little difference, 
by another author, who says that the circumstances hap- 
pened at Paris ; that the genius spoke in Syriac, and that 
M. de Saumaise being consulted, replied, 'go out of your 
house, for it will fall in ruins to-day, at nine o'clock in 
the evening.' " * 

Evil spirits are frequently endowed in popular legend 
with the ability to speak and understand a great many 
languages. Dupouy, citing J. Boudin of Angers, an 
ancient authority on demonology, says that Boudin 
"pretends that the devil may speak through the mouth 
of the possessed, and use all the idioms, known and un- 
known." 2 

Those who were bewitched frequently talked in other 
languages, certainly at least in Latin. Thus Dr. Hutch- 
inson, in his account of Richard Dugdale, the Surrey 
Impostor, as he calls him, writes : 

"Here is a young Man, about twenty years old, is said 
to have given his soul to the Devil, that he might be the 

1 CaImet: op cit. Vol. I, pp. 205-6. 

9 Dupouy, Edmond: "Medicine in the Middle Ages." Cincinnati, 1889; p. 42. 



SOME FORMS OF RELATED PHENOMENA 31 

best Dancer in Lancashire ; but instead of dancing in the 
way he hoped to have done, he seems to be possessed. 
He stands upon his Head, dances upon his Knees, and 
runs on all Four like a Dog, and barks. He seems some- 
times extreme heavy, and at other Times light; hath a 
swelling run from the calf of his leg up to his Neck; 
he talks shreads of Latin, ran into the Water, and told 
things at a Distance, and was thought to be possessed 
with a merry ludicrous Spirit." 1 

Dr. Hutchinson does not seem to have had an over- 
whelming respect for the Presbyterian clergy as exor- 
cists. Perhaps he has a predilection against them. At 
any rate he tells how the Presbyterians failed to cure the 
aforesaid Richard Dugdale, and Richard taking some 
money given him by "some honest gentlemen of the 
Church of England," 

"Went to one Dr. Chew, and never had a fit after his 
Physick, tho' he had a severe one the Day before." 2 

The notion of one's speaking as a result of demoniac 
possession we will find recurring frequently in, for ex- 
ample, the case of Mr. Baxter and the Irvingites, who 
ascribed their mistakes to a lying spirit. 

The popular idea of the cunning and wisdom of Satan 
is revealed in the belief in his ability to speak and under- 
stand all kinds of language. Nothing could ever be 
gained by trying to deceive him by any effort to speak 
in a foreign language ; he understood everything. Gass- 
ner, a celebrated Swiss therapeutic of the eighteenth 
century, spoke chiefly Latin in his profession, and the 
devil is said often to have understood him perfectly. 3 
May we presume to suggest that even in the modern 
medical profession we face the survival of a primitive 

1 Hutchinson, Francis: "An Historical Essay Concerning Witchcraft." Lon- 
don, 1718; p. 125. 

2 Same: p. 126. 

• Howitt, William: "History of the Supernatural." Philadelphia, 1863. Vol. 
I, p. 123. 



32 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

superstitious practice in the scribbling off in illegible 
handwriting in the Latin tongue, that mysterious some- 
thing called a prescription? Why all these mysteries? 
Why all this atrocious Latinity ? Only because even our 
physicians are still primitive in some of their intellectual 
traits. They still cling desperately to the mysterious 
power of a mysterious word. It is a comfort, however, 
to some of us, to know that not only ministers of the 
gospel, not only lawyers with their monstrous Latin, and 
not only the Roman Church with its archaic universal 
language, but also and as well our physicians — who have 
always without fail scouted all superstition — still cling 
to the habits of mind of the dark ages. 

The magic value of a name, to bless or to curse, is a 
phenomenon met with throughout the whole history of 
witchcraft and superstition. It is evident in the Old 
Testament in the unwillingness of the Jewish writers to 
use the word Jehovah. That word was holy; it was 
taboo. An old tradition of the lovers of the occult tells 
us that among some Jewish teachers there was no attempt 
to deny the fact of the miracles of Jesus. They "attribute 
them to his having stolen the Holy Name out of the 
Temple, cut a gash in his thigh and there enclosed this 
omnipotent name, by which he possessed the power to 
do any miracle." x 

The writing of a name upon an object gave it a special 
spiritual value, and the writing of a person's name upon 
an object gave that object a sort of spiritual ascendency 
over the person concerned — an idea which we encounter 
frequently in dealing with magic. Resort was often had 
to this principle by persons desirous of causing harm to 
others. Thus, when Germanicus, nephew of Tiberius, 
died, 

1 Howitt: op. cit. Vol. I, p. 235. See also p. 24. 



SOME FORMS OF RELATED PHENOMENA 33 

"there were found in Corners of his Lodgings Charms, 
Curses, his Name upon Leaden Tables, Pieces of Man's 
Flesh, and Ashes and other things used in witchcraft.' ' * 

Under date of the year 1578, it is stated: 

"A man taken at Islington with Three Waxen Images, 
designed for the killing of Queen Elizabeth, and two of 
her counsellors: they were buried in a Dunghill, with 
their names upon them, in hopes the parties would pine 
away as the Pictures wasted." 2 

The widespread and primitive nature of the concept 
of the inherent power or value of names is dwelt upon 
at considerable length by Dr. Frazer in "The Golden 
Bough": ' 

"Thus, to begin with the savages who rank at the bot- 
tom of the social scale, we are told that the secrecy with 
which among the Australian aborigines personal names 
are often kept from general knowledge, 'arises out of 
the belief that an enemy who has your name, has some- 
thing which he can use magically to your detriment/ 
. . . On Herbert River the wizards, in order to practise 
their arts against some one, 'need only to know the name 
of the person in question, and for this reason they rarely 
use their proper names in addressing or speaking of each 
other, but simply their class names/ . . . Every Egyp- 
tian received two names, which were known respectively 
as the true name and the good name, or the great name 
and the little name, and while the good or little name 
was made public, the true or great name appears to have 
been carefully concealed. Similarly in Abyssinia at the 
present day it is customary to conceal the real name which 
a person receives at baptism and to call him only by a 
short nickname which his mother gives him on leaving 
the church. The reason for this concealment is that a 

1 Hutchinson: op. cit., p. 16. 

2 Same: pp. 29-30. 



34 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

sorcerer cannot act upon a person whose real name he 
does not know." * 

Traces of this fear of the power of a name are to be 
found in various forms among practically all primitive 
peoples. The prohibition laid upon the use of names 
sometimes applies to a man's own name, to the names 
of relatives, of kings or chiefs, of the dead, and of gods. 2 
This taboo is sometimes extended to common words in 
such pursuits as fishing and fowling. 3 

The bestowing of a name in baptism, circumcision, con- 
firmation, or upon the entrance into a religious life, as 
well as the promise in the Apocalypse of a new name, 
may all be regarded as related to the notion of the spiritual 
value of a name. The use of special names and words 
in ceremonies of initiation into secret societies might also 
in this connection be considered. 

Some names are looked upon as very dangerous to 
pronounce. The name of Satan, for example, in some 
cases was believed, when pronounced by a woman, to 
admit into her an evil spirit. 

In the trial of Rose Cullender and Amy Duny, both 
widows, on the charge of witchcraft, Samuel Pacy, a 
merchant who had been called as a witness, stated of the 
two children who were alleged to have been bewitched 
by the women: 

"that they would read (in the New Testament) till they 
came to the Name of Lord or Jesus ; and then before they 
could pronounce either of the said Words they would 
suddenly fall into fits. But when they came to the Name 
of Satan or Demi, they would clap their Fingers upon 

1 Frazer, J. G. : "The Golden Bough." London, 1900. Second edition, Vol. I, 
pp. 404, 406. 

2 Frazer: op. cit., pp. 407-450. See also Crawley, Ernest: "The Mystic Rose." 
London, 1902; pp. 48, 131, 270-3. 

•Frazer: op. cit., pp. 451-64- 



SOME FORMS OF RELATED PHENOMENA 35 

the Book, crying out, This bites, but makes me Speak 
right well." * 

Turner, in his "Mormonism in All Ages," gives an 
account of the superstitious idea that there is a healing 
power in a name, in his story of Austin, the Vermont 
Healer, a story, not of the twelfth century, but of the 
nineteenth : 

"In the year 1808, a Mr. Austin, in the town of Col- 
chester, Vermont, gave out that he was gifted with the 
art of healing, and that whoever would describe to him, 
by word of mouth, or by letter, the symptoms of his mal- 
ady, should receive 'a healing word,' if, indeed, his dis- 
ease were curable. His obscure retreat was soon thronged 
by invalids from all sections of the country. Ballston 
and Saratoga seemed, for the time, forgotten. Barrooms 
and postoffices were deluged with floods of letters to the 
'prophet at Colchester/ Mail carriers groaned under 
burdens of the kind of diseases described. Hawkers and 
vagrants traversed the country to procure and carry let- 
ters of symptoms to the prophet, for only fifty cents a 
letter. The deaf soon heard, the blind saw, dropsies and 
consumptions stood aghast, and multitudes were found 
to amend at the precise time their letters were supposed to 
have reached the prophet. Such fame was, however, 
too glorious for long continuance." 2 

A story of a similar nature is told by Anthony Knivet, 
a voyager and explorer. The event occurred about 1591. 
Knivet's feet had been frozen. Some of the toes had 
dropped off and the feet were infested with lice. At 
Penguin Island, he informs us, 

"the Generall tooke a Chirurgeon who cured with 
words; This man comming aboord our ship, said some 

1 From Pamphlet: "A Tryal of Witches at the Assizes held at Bury St. Ed- 
monds, etc., March 10, 1664." Reprinted, London, 1838. 

"Turner, J. B.: "Mormonism in All Ages." New York, 1842; p. 294. 



36 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

words over my feet and I had feeling in my legges and 
feet which I had lost before, for the space of a fort- 
night. Many times before this man came I had hot 
Irons laid to my feet, but I had no feeling were they 
never so hot." * 

Various phrases were used for the exorcising of 
demons. He who knew the right word to use was spe- 
cially blest. The Lord's Prayer was looked upon as 
having a special value as a test for discovering the exist- 
ence of a witch. The Rev. Mr. Darrel, a Puritan divine 
of the seventeenth century, found that 

"Stinted Prayers, read out of a book (the Common 
Prayer Book) had little effect upon the Spirits; but at 
conceived Prayers, the Parties were much troubled. ,, 2 

It is interesting, by the way, to note that this was the 
same Mr. Darrel who felt called to the ministry by a 
certain "sluggishness" on his part in the study of English 
common law. 

Evil spirits had a persistent objection, in fact a fear, 
of the Pater and Ave. The spirits objected to their 
being repeated. Calmet tells us of a returned spirit 
named Humbert, who 

"was made to say the Pater and Ave; he recited them 
with difficulty, saying that he was prevented by an evil 
spirit, who would not let him tell the cure many other 
things." 3 

Sometimes it was a verse of scripture which checked 
the demon. One of the demons who is said to have 
possessed one of the Ursuline nuns is represented as 
stating that, 

iPurchas: op. cit., Vol. XVI, p 188. 

2 Hutchinson: op. cit., p. 244. 

3 Calmet: op. cit., Vol. I, p. 287. 



SOME FORMS OF RELATED PHENOMENA 37 

"When Lucifer tempted Jesus Christ in the Wilder- 
ness, his design was to penetrate into that Secret (i. e. 
How the Motherhood of Mary could be joined with her 
Virginity) but those words, Thou shalt not tempt the 
Lord, thy God, left him in blindness as to that mystery." * 

Belief was also current in a magic language known 
only to the initiated : 

"One ground of the charge (against John Trithemius, 
Abbot of Spenheim, born 1462, died 15 16) of necro- 
mancy, was a work of his, entitled 'Steganographia, or 
the art, by means of a secret writing, of communicating 
our thoughts to a person absent.' He says, however, that 
in this book he had merely used the language of magic, 
without in any degree having had recourse to their modes 
of proceeding." 2 

The reputed use by witches of unmeaning formulae 
or of formulae of unmeaning sounds is related to the 
theory of a magic language. Elizabeth Style, who con- 
fessed to the charge of witchcraft in 1664, deposed inter 
alia: 

"Before they (the witches) are carried to their meet- 
ings, they annoint their Fore-heads and Hand-Wrists 
with an Oyl the Spirit brings them, which smells raw, 
and then they are carried in a very short time, using 
these words as they pass, Thout, Tout, a tout, tout, 
throughout and about. And when they go off from their 
Meetings, they say Rentum Tormentum" 3 

In the following account of the execution of a witch, 
we note the same psychological tendency: 

a Aubin: "The Cheats and Illusions of Romish Priests and Exorcists. Dis- 
covered in the History of the Devils of Loudun." (Translated into English.) 
London, 1703; p. 263. 

2 Godwin: op. cit., p. 263. 

3 Glanville, Joseph: "Sadducismus Triumphatus, etc." London, 1726. 



38 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

"One of the persons executed at the first burning, a 
prostitute, was heard repeating the exorcism, which was 
supposed to have the power of raising the arch enemy in 
the form of a goat. This precious specimen of human 
folly has been preserved by Horst, in his 'Zauberbiblio- 
thek.' It ran as follows and was to be repeated slowly, 
with many ceremonies and waivings of the hand : 



a < 



Lalle, Bachera, Magotte, Baphia, Dajam, 
Vagoth Heneche Ammi Nagaz, Adomator, 
Raphael Immanuel Christus, Tetragrammaton 
Agra Jod Loi. Konig! Konig!' 

"The two last words were uttered quickly, and with a 
sort of scream, and were supposed to be highly agree- 
able to Satan, who loved to be called a king. If he did 
not appear immediately, it was necessary to repeat a fur- 
ther exorcism. The one in greatest repute was as fol- 
lows, and was to be read backwards, with the exception 
of the last two words : 

"'Anion, Lalle, Sabolos, Sado, Pater, Aziel 
Adonai, Sado Vagoth Agra, Jod, 
Baphra! Komm! Komm!' 

"When the witch wanted to get rid of the devil, who 
was sometimes in the habit of prolonging his visits to an 
unconscionable length, she had only to repeat the follow- 
ing, also backwards, when he generally disappeared, 
leaving behind him a suffocating smell: 

" 'Zellianelle Heotti Bonus Vagotha 
Plisos sother osech unicus Beelzebub 
Dax! Komm! Komm!*"i 

The primitive nature of this meaningless use of words, 
or this use of meaningless words, is apparent when we 
note that it belongs to the same stage psychologically 

*Mackey, Charles: "Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions." Phila- 
delphia, 1850. Vol. I, pp. 329-330. 



SOME FORMS OF RELATED PHENOMENA 39 

as many of the songs in common use among savages. 
"The following," says Tylor, 

"is a translation of a New Zealand song : 

'Thy body is at Waitemata, 
But thy spirit came hither, 
And aroused me from my sleep. 

Chorus — Ha — ah, ha — ah, ha — ah, ha!' 

"This last shows a feature extremely common in bar- 
baric songs, the refrain of generally meaningless syl- 
lables. We moderns are often struck with the absurdity 
of the nonsense-chorus in many of our own songs, but 
the habit is one which seems to have been kept up from 
the stages of culture in which the Australian savage 
sings, 'Abang! Abang!' over and over at the end of 
his verse, or a Red Indian hunting party enjoys singing 
in chorus, 'Nyah eh ua ! nyah eh ua !' to an accompani- 
ment of rattles like those which children use with us." * 

The love of words because of their sounds is a trait 
which we encounter on every hand. The fondness of 
the American negro for words which he does not under- 
stand, but which he seems to enjoy repeating, is familiar. 
In poets of the neuropathic type like Blake or Poe, we 
meet with the same phenomenon. In the fondness of 
small boys for what they call "hog-Latin," we encounter 
a similar tendency. 

That Joseph Smith, Jr., the Mormon prophet, was in 
no sense free from primitive traits is not only in evidence 
in his "peep-stone," but equally so in his fondness for 
high-sounding words, to which we shall have occasion 
later to refer. 

Hepworth Dixon tells a story illustrative of the same 
tendency in giving an account of his visit to the "Agape- 

1 Tylor, Edward B.: "Anthropology." New York, 1881; p. 388. 



40 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

mone," the home of the Princites. Those who lived 
within the protecting walls of the "Agapemone" had 
each received a new name. Dixon was very curious to 
know the names which these people had borne "in the 
world" : 

"Once when Sister Zoe was lifting up her voice to ad- 
dress me, as all the Sisters had done in turn, I asked by 
what name I should speak to her. 'Zoe,' she replied. . . . 

" 'But think,' I urged, 'I am a layman, and a 
stranger; how can I use these sweet, familiar names?' 

" Tray do- so/ answered Zoe; 'it is very nice/ 

"'No doubt, if I were here a month; meantime it 
would be easier for me to call you Miss ' . 

" 'Call me Zoe/ she answered with a patient smile : 
'Zoe; nothing but Zoe/ 

"Looking towards Prince, I said, 'Do your people take 
new names on coming into residence, like the monks and 
nuns of an Italian convent ?' 

" 'Not like monks and nuns/ said Prince ; 'we do not 
put ourselves under the protection of saints. We have 
no saints. We simply give ourselves to God, of whom 
this mansion is the seat. At yonder gates we leave the 
world behind; its words, its laws, its passions; all of 
which we hold to be things of the devil's kingdom. Living 
in the Lord, we follow his leading light, even in the 
simple matter of our names ; you will hear them all in time. 
They call me Beloved. I call this lady Zoe, because the 
sound pleases me. I call Thomas Mossoo, because he 
speaks French so well.' " * 

Grassett remarks upon the same phenomenon as char- 
acteristic of the semi-insane and the semi-responsible. 
Thus he writes of Gorky: 

"Although Gorky has chiefly depicted vagabonds, one 

1 Dixon, William Hepworth: "Spiritual Wives." London and Philadelphia, 
1868; pp. 172-3. 



SOME FORMS OF RELATED PHENOMENA 41 

nevertheless meets the semi-insane in his works, especially 
in Les-Bas-fonds, which the Theatre de l'OEuvre has 
lately presented. Was it not Satine who loves, without 
knowing why, the 'incomprehensible' and 'peculiar' words 
'macrobiotic' and 'transcendental' ?" * 

Grassett also calls attention to the fact that "in certain 
verses of Victor Hugo one finds a curious collection of 
words sounding alike, such as is found in the poems of 
the insane." 2 

In the argot of criminals we are dealing with the same 
conditions. While the practical reason given by crim- 
inals for the use of this peculiar slang is the desire to 
elude the police, the psychological reason is the love of 
unusual and peculiar sounding words. 3 

The Middle Ages were characterised by a number of 
religious movements, all of which had motor character- 
istics which are akin to the tongues movement, and all 
of which would in modern days doubtless have been 
characterised by speaking in tongues. "The Master of 
Hungary," a leader in the Pastoureaux movement, which 
began about 125 1 in Flanders, was said to have spoken 
as the result of a miracle in all languages. 4 He claimed 
to be under the special protection of the Virgin. The 
dancing manise which spread all over Europe were motor 
expressions of the same neurotic conditions which in later 
times have been associated with the tongues movement. 
The Flagellants may also be classified under the same 
general head. 

1 Grassett, Joseph: "The Semi-Insane and the Semi-Responsible." New York, 
1907; p. 17. 

2 Op. cit., p. 231 (foot-note). 

•See Ellis, Havelock: "The Criminal." London and New York, 1903; PP. 

* Blunt, John Henry: "Dictionary of Sects, Heresies, etc." Philadelphia, 
1874. Art.: "Pastoreaux," p. 410. 



42 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

In 1566 an epidemic broke out among the children of 
the Orphan House at Amsterdam : 

"These children climbed up the walls and over roofs 
like cats, made the most horrible grimaces, and spoke 
foreign languages, relating things done at the same mo- 
ment in other places, even in the courts of justice. Simi- 
lar to these were the disorders amongst the children, boys 
and girls, in the Orphan House at Horn in Holland, as 
related by Franz Kneiper. Sometimes they became cata- 
leptic, were as stiff as trunks of trees, and might be 
carried about in the same manner." * 

A few years before (1550) a very similar neurosis 
occurred, Dupouy tells us, 

"among the nuns at St. Brigette's Convent. In their at- 
tacks the nuns imitated the cries of animals and the 
bleating of. sheep. At chapel one after the other were 
taken with convulsive syncope, followed by suffocation 
and oesophageal spasms which sometimes persisted for 
the space of several days and condemned the victims to 
an enforced fast. This epidemic commenced after an 
hysterical convulsion occurred in one of the younger nuns, 
who had entered the convent on account of disappoint- 
ment in love." 2 

Accounts of women worshipping in church, or of nuns 
who barked like dogs, meowed like cats or imitated the 
cries of other animals, are very frequent, and are reported 
as occurring in such widely distributed localities as in a 
German convent, in Oxford, England, and in Paris. At 
the convent of Auxonne, where a similar epidemic broke 
out, 

"The Bishop of Chalons reports that all the before- 

1 Howitt: op. cit., Vol. I, pp. 504-5. 
'Dupouy: op. cit., p. 57. 



SOME FORMS OF RELATED PHENOMENA 43 

mentioned girls, secular as well as regular, to the number 
of eighteen, had the gifts of language, and responded to 
the Exorcists in Latin, making at times their entire con- 
versation in the classical tongue." * 

An incident reminiscent of the disorders, apparently 
distressingly frequent in convents, is related in connec- 
tion with the Salem witchcraft, when it is stated that 
the children of John Goodwin, of Boston, "barked like 
dogs, purred like cats, at times complained that they were 
in a red-hot oven, and again that cold water was thrown 
on them." 2 

Evelyn, in his Diary, refers to the preaching of one 
Rev. John Mason, and under date of April 24th, 1694, 
records the following: 

"A great rising of people in Buckinghamshire, on the 
declaration of a famous preacher, till now reputed a sober 
and religious man, that our Lord Christ appearing to him 
on the 1 6th of this month, told him he was now come 
down, and would appear publicly at Pentecost. . . . 
Great multitudes followed this preacher, divers of the 
most zealous brought their goods and considerable sums 
of money, and began to live in imitation of the primitive 
saints, minding no private concerns, continually dancing 
and singing Hallelulia night and day." 3 

The phenomena which we have been expected to look 
upon as special signs of divine presence, and which were 
associated in later years with what have been called "The 
Great American Revivals," were in evidence under the 
preaching of such men as George Fox and John Wesley. 

1 Dupouy: op. cit., pp. 759-60. See also Hecker, J. F. K. : "The Epidemics 
of the Middle Ages." Philadelphia, 1837; London, 1844; p. 127, foot-note. 

2 Dupouy: op. cit., p. 62. 

3 Evelyn, John: "The Diary of." Edited by William. Bray (in Everyman's 
Library). London and New York. Vol. II, pp. 331-2. 



44 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

Fox frequently had his meetings interrupted by those 
who cried out and groaned. At times his own preaching 
took on that rhapsodic form which would have been called 
prophecy in Irving's church, and which, had his attention 
been turned very forcibly toward the Pentecostal phe- 
nomena, might easily have led him to speak with tongues. 
John Wesley seemed inclined at first to countenance 
the bodily manifestations which occurred under the spell 
of his preaching. How frequent they were is illustrated 
from the following . extracts from his Journal for the 
year 1739: 

"April 17. At Baldwin Street, we called upon God, to 
confirm his word. Immediately, one that stood by cried 
out aloud, with the utmost vehemence, even as in the 
agonies of death. But we continued in prayer, till a new 
song was put into her mouth, a thanksgiving unto our 
God. Soon after, two other persons were seized with 
strong pain, and constrained to roar for the disquietude of 
their heart. But it was not long before they likewise burst 
forth into praise to God their Saviour. The last who' 
called upon God, as out of the belly of hell, was a stranger 
in Bristol ; and, in a short space, he also was overwhelmed 
with joy and love, knowing that God had healed his back- 
slidings. 

"April 21. At Weavers' Hall, a young man was sud- 
denly seized with violent trembling all over, and, in a 
few minutes, sunk to the ground. But we ceased not 
calling upon God, till He raised him up full of peace 
and joy in the Holy Ghost. ... 

"April 26. At Newgate, I was led to pray that God 
would bear witness to His word. Immediately one, and 
another, and another sunk to the earth ; they dropped on 
every side as thunderstruck. One of them cried aloud. 
We besought God in her behalf, and He turned her heavi- 
ness into joy. A second being in the same agony, we 
called upon God for her also; and He spoke peace unto 



SOME FORMS OF RELATED PHENOMENA 45 

her soul. In the evening, one was so wounded by the 
sword of the Spirit, that you would have imagined she 
could not live a moment. But immediately His abundant 
kindness was shown, and she loudly sang of His right- 



Charles Wesley had the same difficulties to contend 
with, but dealt with them after another fashion : 

"June 4th. I went on at five expounding the Acts. 
Some stumbling-blocks, with the help of God, I have 
removed, particularly the fits. Many no doubt were, 
at our first preaching struck down, both soul and body, 
into the depth of distress. Their outward affections 
were easy to be imitated. Many counterfeits I have al- 
ready detected. To-day one who came from the ale-house 
drunk was pleased to fall into a fit for my entertainment, 
and beat himself heartily. I thought it a pity to hinder 
him; so instead of singing over him, as had often been 
done, we left him to recover at his leisure. Another girl, 
as she began her cry, I ordered to be carried out. Her 
convulsion was so violent as to take away the use of 
her limbs, till they laid and left her without the door. 
Then immediately she found her legs, and walked off. 
Some very unstill sisters, who always took care to stand 
near me, and try which should cry loudest, since I had 
them removed out of my sight, have been as quiet as 
lambs. The first night I preached here, half my words 
were lost through their outcries. Last night, before I 
began, I gave public notice, that whosoever cried, so as 
to drown my voice, should, without any man's hurt, or 
judging them, be gently carried to the farthest corner of 
the room. But my porters had no employment the whole 
night; yet the Lord was with us, mightily convincing of 
sin and righteousness." 2 

1 Tyerman, L. : "The Life and Times of Rev. John Wesley, M.A.," etc. New 
York, 1872. Vol. I, pp. 255-6. 

2 Jackson, Thomas: "The Life of the Rev. Charles Wesley, M.A.," etc. Lon- 
don, 1841. Vol. I, pp. 333-4- 



46 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

It is rather to the by-products of the preaching of the 
Wesleys than to the immediate circle of their followers 
that we must look for evidences of conditions very simi- 
lar to those of the tongues movement. The Band-room 
Methodists, an organisation which had its origin in Man- 
chester in 1806, was probably of this tendency. Its 
leaders were John and E. Broadhurst, Holland Hoole, 
Nathaniel Williamson and Thomas E. Painter. They 
were noted, it is said, for their noisy prayer meetings. 
It is to be remembered that it is only a step from noisy 
prayer meetings to speaking in the tongues. 

In Wales a sect arose popularly called the "Jumpers." 
They were a sort of Methodist sect, and seemed to have 
belonged to Lady Huntingdon's connection. The leaders 
in the movement were Harris Rowland and William 
Williams. They began their work about 1760, in the 
county of Cornwall. John Evans, who took occasion to 
attend one of their meetings, has given us the following 
account : 

"About the year 1795 I myself happened very accident- 
ally to be present at a meeting, which terminated in 
jumping. It was held in the open air, on a Sunday even- 
ing, near Newport, in Monmouthshire. The preacher 
was one of Lady Huntingdon's students, who concluded 
his sermon with the recommendation of jumping; and 
to allow him the praise of consistency, he got down from 
the chair on which he stood, and jumped along with them. 
The arguments he adduced for this purpose were, that 
David danced before the ark, that the babe leaped in the 
womb of Elizabeth, and that the man whose lameness 
was removed, leaped and praised God for the mercy 
which he had received. He expatiated on these topics with 
uncommon fervency, and then drew the inference that 
they ought to show similar expressions of joy, for the 
blessings which Jesus Christ had put in their possession. 



SOME FORMS OF RELATED PHENOMENA 47 

He then gave an impassioned sketch of the sufferings of 
the Saviour, and thereby roused the passions of a few 
around him into a state of violent agitation. About nine 
men and seven women, for some little time, rocked to 
and fro, groaned aloud, and then jumped with a kind 
of frantic fury. Some of the audience flew in all direc- 
tions, others gazed on in silent amazement! They all 
gradually dispersed, except the jumpers, who continued 
their exertions from eight in the evening to* near eleven 
at night. I saw the conclusion of it; they at last kneeled 
down in a circle, holding each other by the hand, while 
one of them prayed with great fervour, and then all rising 
up from off their knees, departed. But previous to their 
dispersion, they wildly pointed up towards the sky, and 
reminded one another that they should soon meet there, 
and be never again separated! I quitted the spot with 
astonishment. . . . The reader is referred to Bingley's 
and Evans' Tour Through Wales . . . where, as many 
particulars are retailed respecting the Jumpers, his curi- 
osity will receive a still further gratification." x 

A movement of a similar character began in a Meth- 
odist chapel at Redruth, where 

"A man, during divine service, cried out with a loud 
voice, 'What shall I do to be saved?' at the same time 
manifesting the greatest uneasiness and solicitude respect- 
ing the condition of his soul. Some other members of 
the congregation, following his example, cried out in the 
same form of words, and seemed shortly after to suffer 
the most excruciating bodily pain. This strange occur- 
rence was soon publicly known, and hundreds of people, 
who had come thither, either attracted by curiosity or a 
desire, from other motives, to see the sufferers, fell into 
the same state. The chapel remained open for some days 
and nights, and from that point the new disorder spread 

1 Evans, John: "A Sketch of the Denominations of the Christian World," etc 
Burlington, x8ia; p. 219 et seq. See also Tyerman, op. cit., VoL II, pp. 480-1. 



48 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

itself, with the rapidity of lightning, over the neighbour- 
ing towns of Camborne, Halston, Truro, Penryn, and Fal- 
mouth, as well as in the villages in the vicinity. Whilst 
thus advancing it decreased in some measure at the place 
where it had first appeared, and it confined itself through- 
out to Methodist chapels. It was only by the words which 
had been mentioned that it was excited, and it seized none 
but people of the lowest education. Those who were 
attacked betrayed the greatest anguish and fell into 
convulsions; others cried out, like persons possessed, 
that the Almighty would straightway pour out his wrath 
upon them, that the waitings of tormented spirits rang 
in their ears and they saw hell open to receive them. 
The clergy, when in the course of their sermons they per- 
ceived that persons were thus seized, earnestly exhorted- 
them to confess their sins, and zealously endeavoured to 
convince them that they were by nature enemies to Christ, 
that the anger of God had therefore fallen upon them, 
and that if death should surprise them in the midst of 
their sins, the eternal torments of hell would be their | 
portion. The over-excited congregation upon this re- 
peated their words, which materially must have increased 
the fury of their convulsive attacks. When the discourse 
had produced its full effects, the preacher changed his 
subject; reminded those who were suffering of the power 
of the Saviour, as well as of the grace of God, and 
represented to them in glowing colours the joys of heaven. 
Upon this a remarkable reaction sooner or later took 
place. Those who< were in convulsions felt themselves 
raised from the worst depths of misery and despair to 
the most exalted bliss, and triumphantly shouted out 
that their bonds were loosed, their sins were forgiven, 
and that they were translated to the wonderful freedom 
of the children of God. In the meantime their convul- 
sions continued, and they remained, during this condition, 
so abstracted from every earthly thought, that they stayed 
two and sometimes three days and nights together in the 
chapels, agitated all the time by spasmodic movements, 



SOME FORMS OF RELATED PHENOMENA 49 

and taking neither repose nor nourishment. According 
to a moderate computation, 4,000 people were, within a 
short time, affected with this convulsive malady." 

Then follows an account of the bodily conditions, symp- 
toms, etc. : 

"Others shouted aloud, leaped about, and threw their 
bodies into every possible posture until they exhausted 
their strength. Yawning took place at the commence- 
ment in all cases, but as the violence of the disorder in- 
creased, the circulation and respiration became acceler- 
ated, so that the countenance assumed a swollen and 
puffed appearance. When exhaustion came on, patients 
usually fainted, and remained in a stiff and motionless 
state until their recovery." 1 

In the "Great Awakening" in this country, such scenes 
were frequent. Under the preaching of Gilbert Tennent, 
crying out, shouting and falling occurred so often that 
they attracted the attention of Tennent's critics and be- 
came a basis for attacks against him. 2 

It is in the Kentucky Revival, however, that we have 
probably the most remarkable scenes of physiological 
phenomena ever known in this country to> have been asso- 
ciated with Christianity. The people who were its sub- 
jects were of all classes, but, for the most part, they were 
ignorant, superstitious backwoodsmen. The revival was 
a series of camp meetings, the first of which was held for 
four days and three nights, beginning May 22, 1801. 

"The scene was awful beyond description; the falling, 
crying out, praying, exhorting, singing, shouting, etc., 
exhibited such new and striking evidences of a supernat- 
ural power, that few, if any, could escape without being 

* Hecker: op. cit., p. 144. 

* See Tennent, Gilbert: "The Examiner Examined," etc. Philadelphia, 1743. 



50 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

affected. Such as tried to run from it, were frequently 
struck on the way, or impelled, by some alarming signal, 
to return; . . . No circumstance at this meeting appeared 
more striking than the great numbers that fell on the 
third night : and to prevent their being trodden under 
foot by the multitude, they were collected together, and 
laid out in order, on two squares of the meeting-house; 
which, like so many dead corpses, covered a consider- 
able part of the floor/ ' 1 

Similar scenes occurred at Concord, Eagle Creek, 
Pleasant Point, Indian Creek, Caneridge (where three 
thousand are said to have fallen). 

In addition to this "falling" exercise there were other 
manifestations of an unusual sort, of which there were, 
according to McNemar, three principal types: 

"The rolling exercises, the jerks and the barks, i. The 
rolling exercise, which consisted in being cast down in 
a violent manner, doubled with the head and feet to- 
gether, and rolled over and over like a wheel, or stretched 
in a prostrate manner, turned swiftly over and over like 
a log. This was considered very debasing and mortify- 
ing, especially if the person was taken in this manner 
through the mud, and sullied therewith from head to 
foot. 

"2. Still more demeaning and mortifying were the 
jerks. Nothing in nature could better represent this 
strange and unaccountable operation, than for one to 
goad another, alternately on every side, with a piece of 
red hot iron. The exercise commonly began in the 
head which would fly backward and forward, and from 
side to side, with a quick jolt, which the person would 
naturally labour to suppress, but in vain ; and the more any 
one laboured to stay himself, and be sober, the more he 

1 McNemar, Richard: "The Kentucky Revival," etc. New York, 1846; pp. 
83-4- 



SOME FORMS OF RELATED PHENOMENA 51 

staggered, and the more rapidly his twitches increased. 
He must necessarily go as he was stimulated, whether 
with a violent dash on the ground and bounce from place 
to place like a football, or hop round, with head, limbs 
and trunk, twitching and jolting in every direction, as 
if they must inevitably fly asunder. And how such 
could escape without injury, was no small wonder to 
spectators. By this strange operation the human frame 
was commonly so transformed and disfigured as to lose 
every trace of its natural appearance. Sometimes the 
head would be twitched right and left, to a half round, 
with such velocity, that not a feature could be discovered, 
but the face appear as much behind as before; and in the 
quick progressive jerk, it would seem as if the person was 
transmuted into some other species of creature. Head 
dresses were of little account among the female jerkers. 
Even handkerchiefs bound tight round the head, would be 
flirted off almost with the first twitch, and the hair put 
into the utmost confusion. . . . Such as were seized with 
the jerks, were wrested at once, not only from under their 
own government, but that of every one else, so that it was 
dangerous to attempt confining them, or touching them 
in any manner, to whatever danger they were exposed; 
yet few were hurt, except it were such as rebelled 
against the operation, through wilful and deliberate en- 
mity, and refused to comply with the injunctions which 
it came to enforce. 

"3. The last possible grade of mortification seemed to 
be couched in the barks, which frequently accompanied 
the jerks; nor were they the most mean and contemptible 
characters, who were the common victims of this dis- 
gracing operation ; but persons who considered themselves 
in the foremost rank, possessed of the highest improve- 
ments of human nature, and yet in spite of all the effort 
of nature, both men and women would be forced to per- 
sonate that animal, whose name, appropriated to a human 
creature, is counted the most vulgar stigma — forced, I 



52 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

say, for no argument but force could induce any one of 
polite breeding in a public company to take the position 
of a canine beast, move about on all fours, and growl, 
snap the teeth, and bark in so personating a manner as 
to set the eyes and ears of the spectator at variance. It 
was commonly acknowledged by the subjects of these 
exercises, that they were laid upon them, as a chastise- 
ment for disobedience, or a stimulus to incite them to 
some duty or exercise, to which they felt opposed. Hence 
it was very perceivable that the quickest method to find 
releasement from the jerks and barks was to engage in 
the voluntary dance; and such as refused, being inwardly 
moved thereto as their duty and privilege, had to bear 
these afflicting operations, from month to month and from 
year to year, until they wholly lost their original design 
and were converted into a badge of honour, in the same 
manner as the first outward mark of human guilt." 1 

Peter Cartwright tells us that there was considerable 
discussion as to the nature of the "exercises" in the Ken- 
tucky Revival and thus describes the manifestation of 
the "jerks" : 

"Just in the midst of our controversies on the subject 
of the powerful exercises among the people under preach- 
ing, a new exercise broke out among us, called the jerks, 
which was overwhelming in its effects upon the bodies and 
minds of the people. No matter whether they were saints 
or sinners, they would be taken under a warm song or 
sermon, and seized with a convulsive jerking all over, 
which they could not by any possibility avoid, and the 
more they resisted the more they jerked. If they would 
not strive against it and pray in good earnest, the jerking 
would usually abate. I have seen more than five hundred 
persons jerking at one time in my large congregation. 
Most usually persons taken with the jerks, to obtain relief, 

1 McNemar: op. cit., pp. 63-8. 



SOME FORMS OF RELATED PHENOMENA 53 

as they said, would rise up and dance. Some would run, 
but could not get away. Some would resist ; on such the 
jerks were generally very severe. 

"To see those proud young gentlemen and young ladies, 
dressed in their silks, jewelry, and prunella, from top to 
toe, take the jerks, would often excite my risibilities. 
The first jerk or so, you would see their fine bonnets, caps 
and combs fly; and so sudden would be the jerking of 
the head that their long, loose hair would crack almost 
as loud as a wagoner's whip." * 

In spiritualism we find also the phenomena which are 
found in connection with the tongues. Not only are the 
same physiological conditions present, and not only are 
mediums to be classed under the same general head as 
all the tongues people as persons of neurotic tendencies, 
but trance-speaking, involuntary utterances, together with 
speaking in foreign languages, all encountered in spirit- 
ualism, are stigmata which entitle spiritualists to be 
classed under the same general head as those who speak 
in tongues. 

There was a curious vein of spiritualism which ran 
through the thinking of many of the communistic societies 
which flourished in the United States during the first 
half of the nineteenth century. Converse with departed 
spirits was also a striking element in the Shaker worship. 
Charles Nordhoff calls attention to the spiritualistic ele- 
ment in the "Amana Community" : 

"They (the Amana Community) regard the utterances, 
while in the trance state, of their spiritual head, as given 
from God ; and believe . . . that evils and wrongs in the 
congregation will be thus revealed by the influence or, as 
they say, the inspiration or breath of God. . . . 

1 Cartwright, Peter: "Autobiography." Edited by W. P. Strickland. New 
York, 1857; PP- 48-9. 



54 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

"When the 'instrument' falls into inspiration, he is 
often severely shaken — Metz, they say, sometimes shook 
for an hour — and thereupon follows the utterances which 
are believed to proceed from God. The 'instrument' sits 
or kneels, or walks about among the congregation. 
'Brother Metz used to walk about in the meeting with his 
eyes closed; but he always knew to whom he was speak- 
ing, or where to turn with words of reproof, admonition, 
or encouragement' — so I was told." x 

Andrew Jackson Davis is certainly not the most 
profound of thinkers, and, for the most part, what he 
has to say is tiresome and verbose, but what he has to 
say on the subject of the nature of trance-speaking and 
its relation to revival phenomena is none the less true : 

" 'The outpouring of the Holy Spirit' in a Methodist 
medium, while lying insensible upon the ground or floor, 
or while in ecstasies, shouting, T have found peace,' 
'I have found Jesus,' etc., is analogous to, and is exactly 
the same thing as, that which is experienced by the Spir- 
itualist medium when moved to speak in many tongues, 
or while (externally unconscious) expressing the exalted 
sentiments and poetic delights imparted by enthusiastic 
'spirits and angels' who were once our earthly acquaint- 
ances, friends, neighbours, brothers, and sisters." 2 

Automatic writing or inspirational writing on the part 
of mediums belongs to the same class. With it may be 
classified trance preaching. Of the latter, the following 
is a typical example: 

"Almost fifty years ago, a very remarkable case of 
preaching ecstasy, or, as it would now be called by some, 
trance-mediumship, occurred in this city in the person of 

1 Nordhoff, Charles: "The Communistic Societies of the United States." New 
York, 1875; pp. 47-8-9, 58. 

s Davis, A. J.: "Diseases of the Brain and Nerves." New York, 1871; p. xii. 



SOME FORMS OF RELATED PHENOMENA 55 

a maiden lady, of delicate health, named Rachel Baker. 
Dr. S. L. Mitchell took great interest in her case, and had 
her sermons reported by a stenographer and published. 
Miss Baker was the daughter of a respectable farmer in 
Onondaga County, New York, and had received a plain 
but substantial education. About the age of twenty she 
became much exercised on the subject of religion, and 
at length her mind became seriously affected, and she fell 
into the habit of trance-preaching. Her parents were 
at first impressed at what they regarded as a most extra- 
ordinary gift, though they afterward became convinced 
that it was the result of disease, and accordingly brought 
her to the city of New York, in order that she might have 
the benefit of the best medical skill. Crowds flocked to 
hear her preach at the houses of different medical prac- 
titioners. Her discourses were highly respectable in 
point of style and arrangement, and were interspersed 
with Scripture quotations. After her health was restored, 
she lost the faculty of trance-preaching, and never re- 
gained it. She died in 1843." 

Mediumistic utterances or writings are on record in 
which the medium, ignorant of any language except 
English, has used language even as unusual as Sanscrit. 
Judge Edmonds says : 

"I have heard the mediums use Greek, Latin, Spanish, 
and French words, when I knew they had no knowledge 
of any language but their own; and it is a fact that can 
be attested by many, that often there has been speaking 
and writing in foreign languages and unknown tongues 
by those who were unacquainted with either." x 

He further states : 

"I have heard an illiterate mechanic repeat Greek, Latin, 
Hebrew and Chaldaic, and describe the customs and 

1 Edmonds, John W., and Dexter, George T. : "Spiritualism." New York, 
1853. Vol. I, p. 75. See also p. 35. 



56 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

habits of men living on the earth thousands of years ago. 
... I have been present when a medium answered many 
questions in the Italian language, of which she was ig- 
norant, and then gave me the name of an Italian gentle- 
man of whom she had never heard." * 

Of Charles H. Foster, "the Salem Seer," it was said : 

"Mr. Foster could give a communication in any 
language. He would make mistakes, speak slowly, and 
sometimes not very accurately, but could in nearly all 
cases be understood by the questioner. In this connection 
I remember one remarkable experience which occurred 
in New York City. Two gentlemen called on Mr. Foster 
and inquired if he could answer some questions in a 
foreign language. He replied that he had usually been 
able to do so, and if the gentlemen would kindly be seated 
and write their questions on slips of paper, he would see 
what the result would be. I am quite sure that the men- 
tal strain was very severe on Mr. Foster during this 
seance, for beads of perspiration could be seen on his 
forehead frequently. It was quite a lengthy seance, and 
he answered numerous questions, but in a language which 
he said he had never before spoken. Consequently he 
pronounced many of the words with some difficulty. The 
gentlemen were surprised and delighted. In justice to 
Mr. Foster, and to show what a wonderful test he had 
given them, one of the gentlemen made this explanation : 
Some years ago he was shipwrecked, and drifted to an 
unknown island, where he was treated kindly by the 
natives, and where he was compelled to remain for three 
years before being rescued. It: was there he learned this 
strange language. A young native, who was his most 
intimate companion, died a few weeks before he was 
rescued, and it was the spirit of this young man from 
whom he was supposed to have had the communication, 
and as there was not another man in New York City, 

1 Edmonds, John W., and Dexter, George T.: "Spiritualism." New York, 
1853. Vol. I, p. 87. 



SOME FORMS OF RELATED PHENOMENA 57 

or in any part of Europe, who knew a word of the 
language, it certainly was a capital test, and shows, it 
seems to me conclusively, that no fraud could have been 
practised, and shows also, beyond a doubt, that there is 
such a thing as genuine mediumistic phenomena, which 
has not in the past, and cannot at present, be satisfactorily 
explained." * 

It is a long journey from the dark lands of fear in 
which the savage of to-day lives, that land in which the 
peoples of Europe spent their dark ages, to the spiritualism 
of to-day with its easy access to the supernatural, and 
with the comfort that it brings to those whose notion of 
heart's ease is not in activity, but in passivity. But it is 
a path which leads always to the same country. Whether 
we listen to the anguished cries of the bewitched, to the 
great cry of the multitude whose groans and shouts of 
salvation are filling the revival air, or to the still, small, 
silly voice of the medium, we are ever in the same 
country — the land of the savage, of the puerile, of the 
semi-insane, the semi -responsible ; the land where fear is, 
but the land where God is not. 

iBartlett, George C: "The Salem Seer" (Charles Foster). New York, 1891; 
PP. 64-5. 



CHAPTER III 

THE URSULINE NUNS AND THE DEVILS OF LOUDUN 

In the account of the famous "Devils of Loudun," 
one history of which is called by the Protestant minister 
who wrote it "The Cheats and Illusions of Romish Priests 
and Exorcists," 1 the ability to speak in other languages 
is much in evidence as a sign of demon possession. 

It is a sad story — a tragic story. But all these stories 
which we are telling are pitifully sad stories of human 
ignorance and sin. Loudun had long enjoyed that popu- 
larity and that prosperity of a material nature which is 
the privilege of the miracle-making. 

"The Carmelites of Loudun heretofore had been pos- 
sessed of the power of working Miracles; they had an 
image of our Lady, call'd our Lady of Recovery, who 
fail'd not any one of those in what they requir'd of her 
devoutly, and in the requisite form. But since the image 
of Ardilliers came to be set up at Saummur, in the 
Neighbourhood of the former, as if she had been her 
Rival, she usurped all her Power and Credit; and 'tis 
no great wonder; for doubtless there's no body in the 
World, who does not agree, that the Priests of the Oratory 
are more able and cunning People than the Carmelites. 
At that time all one Quarter and a suburb of Loudun, 
which was fill'd with Inns for Pilgrims, remain'd un- 
peopled and desolate, and the Carmelites without Presents, 
Votaries, and Gospel-money." 2 

x Aubin, Nicolas: "The Cheats and Illusions of Romish Priests and Exorcists, 
Discovered in the History of the Devils of Loudun." (Translated into English.) 
London, 1703. 

a Same, p. 188. 

58 



THE DEVILS OF LOUDUN 59 

In Loudun also was a convent of Ursuline nuns, 
founded in 1626, likewise under the depressing influence 
of poverty. The women who were its inmates were of 
good families, but brought no considerable portions with 
them to enrich the convent. The confessor of the con- 
vent in the year 1632 was one Canon Mignon. At the 
time this honour was bestowed upon Mignon, the name 
of Urban Grandier had also been suggested and had 
received some considerable support. It is said that 
Grandier's name had been urged at the request of some 
of the nuns. 

For this request there was a reason obvious in the 
moral ideas of the time. Grandier not only opposed the 
dogma of the celibacy of the clergy, but, like the vast 
majority of his fellow clergy, maintained notorious sexual 
relations with a number of women. 1 When later he was 
burned at the stake, a treatise which he had written 
against the celibacy of the clergy, and which his inquisi- 
tors found among his papers, was burned with him. It 
is not to be doubted that Grandier, because of his promi- 
nent position, his personal charm, his heretofore inacces- 
sibility, and his well-known sexual experiences, had for 
some of the nuns of the convent that fascination and 
charm which a roue has always for a type of adolescent 
female mind. This is especially evident when we realize 
that in these young women the idea of sex had been 
exalted unduly by the fact that their vows constituted a 
prohibition against anything which seemed to be a normal 
expression of the vita sexualis. 

Grandier was both an able man and a successful man. 

"He perform'd the course of his Studies under the 
Jesuits of Bourdeaux, who, observing in him very COn- 
^ee Lea, Henry Charles: "History of Sacerdotal Celibacy in the tChristiao 
Church." Third Edition. New York, 1907. Vol. II, p. 297. 



60 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

siderable Endowments, took an affection to him, and 
procur'd to him the parsonage of Saint Peter, in the 
Market of Loudun, which is in the presentation of the 
Jesuits of Poictiers. He had also obtain'd a Prebend 
in the Chapter of the Church of Saint Crosse. The 
uniting of these two Benefices in one Person, who was 
not of that Province, expos'd him to the Envy of many 
Churchmen, who would have been well satisfied with 
one of the two. This he was sufficiently sensible of, 
when he saw himself accus'd, for he often said to his 
Friends, that one part of those of that Order, who had 
declared themselves against him, had a Quarrel with his 
Benefices, rather than his Person." x 

He is described by Aubin as 

"Of a tall Stature, and of a good Presence, of a steady 
Mind, and subtil Wit, always Comely and well drest, never 
going but in a long Garment; this outward neatness was 
accompanied with a polite Wit ; He exprest himself with 
much Ease and Eloquence." 2 

It is to be expected that he was a man with enemies. 
His amours, his successes and the fact that he was a 
man of independent thought soon raised up for him many 
enemies. That he was not always a man of discretion 
is evident in the story told by his friendly biographer, 
Aubin, 3 that after he had been acquitted of a charge 
of immorality, he rode back to Loudun, openly proclaim- 
ing his triumph over his enemies by carrying a branch 
of laurel in his hand. 

Rumours had been current for some time in the town, 
of something unusual in the Ursuline convent, and it had 
been whispered about that demons had entered into some 
of the nuns. The whispered rumour seemed only too 

1 Aubin. op. cit., pp. 5-6. 
a Op. c\t„ p. 6. 
*Op. cit., p. 18. 



THE DEVILS OF LOUDUN 61 

true. The new father confessor, Mignon, the appointee 
of the Mother Superior, who had indignantly refused to 
appoint the scandalous Grandier, had learned with horror 
(feigned or unfeigned) that not only one of the lay 
sisters, the daughter of one Maignoux, but the Mother 
Superior herself, was under demoniacal possession. This 
had occurred after "the Nuns had been disturb'd for 
fifteen Days with Apparitions and frightful Visions. ,, x 

The first public, or semi-public, exhibition of the phe- 
nomena of possession was in the presence, inter alia, of 
two magistrates, William de Cerizai de la Gueriniere, 
Bailiff* of the Loudunois, and Lewis Chauvet, Lieutenant 
Civil. These found the Superior and the lay sister lying 
in bed : 

"The Superior had no sooner discover'd the two Magis- 
trates, but she had violent Commotions, and perform' d 
strange Actions ; She made a noise which was like to that 
of a Pig; She sunk down into the Bed, and contracted 
herself into the Postures and Grimaces of a Person who 
is out of his Wits; A Carmelite Friar was at her right 
Hand, and Mignon at her left, the last of these put his 
Two Fingers into her Mouth, and presupposing that she 
was possess'd, us'd many Conjurations, and spake to the 
Devil, who answer'd him after this Manner, in their First 
Dialogue. Mignon demanded, Propter quam Causam 
ingressus es in Corpus hujus Virginis? For what Reason 
hast thou entered into the Body of this Virgin? Answ. 
Causa animositatis; Upon the Account of Animosity. 
Q. Per quod Pactum? By what Pact? A. Per Flores. 
By Flowers. Q. Quotes? What Flowers? A. Rosas. 
Roses. Q. Quis misit? Who sent them? A. Urbanus. 
Urban. She pronounc'd not this Word before she had 
stammer'd many times, as if she had done it by constraint. 
Q. Die Cognomen. Tell his Surname. A. Grandier., 

a Aubin: op. cit., p. 22. 



62 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

This was again a Word which she pronounc'd not till 
she had been very much urged to Answer. Q. Die 
qualitatum. Mention his Quality. A. Sacerdos. A 
Priest. Q. Cujus ecclesiae? Of what Church? A. 
Sancti Petri. Of Saint Peter's. She utter'd these last 
Words very boldly. Q. Qua Persona attulit Flores? 
What Person brought the Flowers? A. Diabolica. A 
Diabolical Person." x 

In view of the fact that these women had been under 
the care of Mignon for some time before they were per- 
mitted publicly to be interrogated, it is not to be wondered 
at that the demonized Superior was able to answer these 
set questions put to her only by him. The learning of 
these rote answers would be certainly no very great feat. 
Enough had been accomplished, however, in publicly 
accusing Qrandier of the responsibility for the possession. 
The general public, however, was not easily convinced, 
and showed an inclination to look upon the whole matter 
as a pious fraud. 

In spite of the accusations against Grandier, however, 
his enemies were able to accomplish nothing for some 
time. At length pressure was brought to bear upon 
Cardinal Richelieu and through him upon the King. By 
this time the possession had so spread that a great number 
of the nuns were now involved. 

"Louis XIII, naturally pious and just, perceived the 
greatness of the evil, and deemed it his duty to put a 
stop to it. He appointed M. de Laubardemont to inves- 
tigate the matter without appeal; with orders to choose 
in the neighbouring jurisdictions the most straightfor- 
ward and learned judges." 2 

1 Aubin: op. cit., p. 23-4. 

2 Des Nian: "The History of the Devils of Loudun," etc. (Translated by 
Edmund Goldsmid.) Edinburgh, 1887 (a Poitiers, 1634). II, p. 7. 



THE DEVILS OF LOUDUN 63 

These judges began the hearing of witnesses on Decem- 
ber 17th, 1633, after they had first imprisoned Grandier 
and robbed him of every means of defense. The nuns 
who were heard 

"deposed that Grandier had introduced himself into 
the convent by day and night for four months, without 
anyone knowing how he got in; that he presented him- 
self to them whilst standing at divine service and tempted 
them to indecent actions both by word and deed; that 
they were often struck by invisible persons ; and that the 
marks of the blows were so visible that the doctors and 
surgeons had easily found them. 1 . . . In a word, 2 besides 
the nuns and six lay women, sixty witnesses deposed to 
adulteries, incests, sacrileges, and other crimes, committed 
by the accused, even in the most secret places of his 
church, as in the vestry, where the Holy Host was kept, 
on all days and at all hours." 

Aubin gives us a little more explicit account of the 
charges : 3 

"Amongst the Witnesses of this Accusation there were 
Five very considerable, viz. Three Women; the First 
whereof said, that one Day, after she had receiv'd the 
Communion from the Person aecus'd, who earnestly 
looked upon her during that Action, she was instantly 
seiz'd with a violent Love-Passion for him, which began 
with a little Shivering through all the Parts of her Body : 
The other said, that having been stop'd by him in the 
Street, he press'd her Hand, and that immediately she 
was seiz'd with a vehement Passion for him ; The Third 
said, that after she had seen him at the Door of the 
Church of the Carmelites, when he enter'd with the 
Procession, she felt very great Commotions, and had 

1 Des Nian: op. cit., II: pp. 10-14. 
2 Same, pp. 19-21. 
•Aubin: op. cit., p. 161. 



64 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

such Inclinations, that she willingly desir'd to lie with 
him. . . ." 

Of the other two witnesses, one deposed that he had 
seen Grandier reading the works of Agrippa, and there- 
fore studying magic. The other deposed that in Gran- 
dier's study he had seen "a Book upon the Table open'd 
at the Place of a Chapter, which treated of the Means 
to make Women in Love." 1 

The examinations of witnesses were further continued, 
and all the evidences of possession were easily found by 
those who had determined to find them. One of the 
first tests of possession, that of an ability to speak or 
understand a foreign language, was especially in evidence : 

"Acquaintance with unknown tongues first showed 
itself in the Mother Superior. At the beginning, she 
answered in Latin, the questions of the Ritual proposed 
to her in that language. Later, she and the others 
answered in any language they thought proper to question 
in. 

"M. de Launay de Razilli, who had lived in America, 
attested that, during a visit to Loudun, he had spoken 
to them in the language of a certain savage tribe of that 
country, and that they had answered quite correctly, and 
had revealed to him events that had taken place there. 

"Some gentlemen of Normandy certified in writing 
that they had questioned Sister Clara de Sazilli in 
Turkish, Spanish and Italian, and that her answers were 
correct. 

"M. de Nismes, Doctor of the Sorbonne, and one of 
the chaplains of the Cardinal de Lyon, having questioned 
them in Greek and German, was satisfied with their re- 
plies in both languages. 

"Father Vignier, Superior of the Oratory at La 

*Aubin: op. cit., p. 162. 



THE DEVILS OF LOUDUN 65 

Rochelle, bears witness in his Latin Narrative, that, hav- 
ing questioned Sister Elizabeth a whole afternoon in 
Greek, she always replied correctly and obeyed him in 
every particular. 

"The Bishop of Nimes commanded Sister Clara in 
Greek to raise veil and kiss the railings at a certain spot ; 
she obeyed, and did many other things he ordered, which 
caused the prelate to exclaim that one must be an Atheist 
or lunatic not to believe in 'possession/ 

"Some doctors questioned them also as to the meaning 
of some Greek technical terms, extremely difficult to 
explain, and only known to the most learned men, and 
they clearly expressed the real signification of the 
words." * 

We have just read one account of the linguistic abilities 
of the demonised. It is not, however, the only account 
of the same phenomena. On one occasion 

"A Scotchman named Stracan, who was Principal of 
the College of Loudun, . . . requir'd that the Devil 
should say Aqua in the Scots language, for the convincing 
of all the Assistants, that there was not any Suggestion 
by anyone whatsoever. . . . But the Nun answer'd 
Nlmia Curio sit as' Tis too great a Curiosity, and after 
she had repeated it Twice or Thrice, she said Deus non 
volo; Some cry'd out that this was ill Syntax." 

This was not the only occasion when the demon showed 
that his education, even in Latin, had been exceedingly 
superficial, to say the least. But when the demon had 
refused to answer in Scotch, replying "Deus non volo" 

"The Exorcist reply'd, that the Devil knew this lan- 
guage very well, but he would not speak it. But if you 

*Des Nian: op. cit. II, pp. 27-8. 
a Aubra: op. cit., pp. 46-8. 



66 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

'will, added he, that I command him to tell presently your 
Sins, he shall do it. . . . 

"In the meantime, the Assistants being very eager to 
know if the Devil understood strange languages, the 
Bayliff upon their importunities propos'd the Hebrew 
Tongue as a dead Language and the most ancient of all 
Languages, which the Devil ought to know better than 
any other, which being follow'd by a General Applause 
the Exorcist commanded the possess'd to say in the 
Hebrew tongue the word Aqua, Water. She answer'd 
not; but some understoood that she pronounc'd very low 
these Words, 'Ah ! je renie, Curse on't/ It was affirm'd 
by a Carmelite, who was a little way from her, that she 
did say Zaquaq, and that it was an Hebrew Word, which 
signifies Effudi aquam, I have poured out water; although 
they who were nearest her, unanimously attested that she 
said Ah! je renie, which caused the Superior of the 
Carmelites to reprove publicly the Friar." 

On another occasion, 1 after testing the demon in Latin, 
which proved itself as bad as usual, the exorcist com- 
manded the devil to state in Greek what had already 
been stated in Latin. 

"She made no Answer, though the Adjurations were 
often repeated, and she also presently return' d to her 
natural State. . . ." 

When the Duke of Lauderdale asked as a test for 
witchcraft that one of the demons should speak a strange 
language, a Jesuit, to whom he made the request, 

"asked, 'What language?' I told him, 'I would not 
tell ; but neither he nor all those devils should understand 
me/ He asked, 'If I should be converted upon the tryal,' 
(for he had discovered I was no papist). I told him 

1 Aubin : op. cit., p. 42. 



THE DEVILS OF LOUDUNi 67 

'that was not the question, nor could all the devils in hell 
pervert me; but the question was, if that was a real 
possession, and if any could understand me, I shall con- 
fess it under my hand/ His answer was, 'These devils 
have not travelled/ and this I replied to with a loud 
laughter, nor could I gtt any more satisfaction." 1 

Enough has been said, however, to indicate very clearly 
that as far as the devils of Loudun are concerned in the 
speaking of unknown languages, we are dealing with a 
pious fraud. 

The other tests were equally valueless. When Sister 
Claire was in "convulsions,' ' 

"She was pricked in the Arm by a Pin which pinn'd 
her sleeve. It did not at all appear that the Devil had 
made her insensible of bodily Pains, for she cry'd out, 
'Take away this Pin, it pricks me/ When she was re- 
cover^ out of her Convulsions, She said to the Assessor 
of the Provostship, that she remembered all that was 
past" 2 

The devils made frequent promises which remained 
unfulfilled. 

'Tn the beginning of May, one of the Devils of the 
Superior had promis'd to raise her up Two feet high; 
Lactance call'd upon him often to perform his Promise, 
which he did not however, because the Nun having been 
willing to dazzle the Eyes of the People, by trying one 
time to do something near it, There was one of the 
Spectators who lifted up the Bottom of her Garment, 
and made all the others see that she touched the Ground 
with the End of one of her Feet. The Devil Eazas had 

1 Quoted in Des Nian: op. cit. First Appendix, p. 37. 
2 Aubin: op. cit., p. 43. 



68 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

also promis'd to raise up la Nogeret Three Foot from 
the Ground, and another Devil nam'd Cerberus, to lift 
up his Nun Two Foot ; but neither the one nor the other 
were Devils of their Word" 1 

In short, there was nothing in this whole case of demon 
possession which might not have been simulated with 
the aid of a few hysterical nuns as dramatis persona. 
When we add to this the fact that the Mother Superior 2 
and several of the nuns 3 confessed that their accusations 
against Grandier had been untrue, as well as the fact 
that the chief movers in the plot against Grandier took 
special pains to call maledictions down upon themselves 4 
if they had conjured up false charges and thus confessed 
to their own mental conflicts, 5 we know that we are 
dealing with a case of fraud. The Duke of Lauderdale, 
who went to see the great sight of the possessed nuns, 
wrote of them 6 that he 

"could hear nothing but wanton wenches singing bawdy 
songs in French." 

And he told the truth. 

It was an obvious fraud, and yet Grandier, after cruel 
tortures, was burned to death. It is said 7 that Grandier, 
turning to Lactance, who had played a perfidious and 
despicable part through the whole tragedy, as the fire 
was lighting up before his face, said : 

" 'There is a God in heaven who will Judge thee and me. 
I summon thee to appear before Him within a Month/ 

1 Aubin : op. cit., p. 96. 

2 Same, p. 165. 

8 Same, pp. 120-1. 

4 Same, p. 45. 

6 See Healy, William: "Mental Conflicts and Misconduct." Boston, 1917. 

6 Quoted in Des Nian: op. cit. First Appendix, III, p. 36. 

'Aubin: op. cit., p. 156. 



THE DEVILS OF LOUDUN 69 

Then addressing himself to God, he utter'd these Words, 
Deus mens j ad te Vigilo, miserere mei Deus." 

And in a month, to the very day, we are told that 
Father Lactance was dead. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE CAMISARDS OR FRENCH PROPHETS 

Christians of a romantic turn of mind have found 
considerable satisfaction in dwelling upon the heroic 
battles fought out in the name of religion in the country 
of the Cevennes towards the close of the seventeenth and 
in the beginning of the eighteenth century. But when 
we sweep away romance and a great accretion of lies, we 
face some sad and bitter facts. The Camisards, the 
heroes of the Cevennes — and they were heroes — were 
neither Huguenots nor Roman Catholics. They were, 
rather, a sect of ecstatic Protestants with all the fighting 
qualities of Puritans and Covenanters. The origin of 
their name, Camisar or Camisard, is given as follows : 

"These Rebels were call'd Camisards for three Reasons. 
The first, because at the beginning of their Insurrection, 
which happened in the Heat of the Summer, almost all 
of them wore Linnen Coats. The 2d, in regard they 
generally went upon all their Enterprizes by Night, which 
in Martial Terms has been call'd a Camisad'e, from Men 
often putting on their Shirts over their coats, to know 
one another in the dark, and lastly, from their lying on 
the Highways which in the vulgar language of those 
Parts, are called Camis." 1 

Later, in England, they were popularly called the 
French Prophets. 

1 "Fanaticism Revived," etc. (collected from the letters of the Mareschals 
de Montrevel and Villars, etc.), London, 1707, p. 213. 

70 



THE CAMISARDS OR FRENCH PROPHETS 71 

We will quote the story of their origin from, one * of 
the many pamphlets published in England against them. 
Their first leader was a man of prophetic gifts — in the 
ecstatic sense — and his gifts were the beginning of a 
contagion. 

"They first began in the Month of June, 1688, and the 
first that laid claim to these extraordinary Gifts was one 
William du Serve, who dwelt in a village called Dieu-le- 
iit, in Dauphine." 

Du Serre soon gathered so considerable a following that 

"the Valleys swarm'd with them, and the Dioceses of 
Ufez, Viviers, Alois, Nismes, Montpelier, and Mende, 
were over-spread with such a Number of Prophets, that 
in the Cevennes, and the lower Languedoc only, they were 
computed at Eight Thousand Souls." 

One very noticeable fact about many of the prophets 
was their extreme youth. Indeed, the place of a child 
in the Kingdom of God was taken by them as express 
authority for the prophesying of children even so young as 

"a Child in the Cradle of about fourteen or fifteen 
months old." 

The prophetic spirit among them seems to have been 
induced. The modus operandi is described as follows : 

"They turn'd round with great Violence, till being quite 
giddy they fell upon the Floor. When so fallen, they 
roll'd their Eyes frightfully, look'd wild and ghastly, 
work'd their lips in divers Figures, drivel' d and foam'd 
at the Mouth, held their Breaths, heav'd their Breasts, 
pufFd and swell'd their Throats, and sometimes lay as if 

1 Kingston, Richard: "Enthusiastick Impostors. No Divinely Inspir'd Proph- 
ets," etc London, 1707, pp. 2-3. 



72 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

they were in a Trance. Then on a sudden they would 
start up, shake their Heads, Gulp, and Hiccup Strangely, 
clap their Hands, move their Feet oddly, shake their whole 
Bodies into Contortions, in the nature of Convulsions. 
Then they would quake, groan, laugh, belch, sigh, sing, 
shriek hideously; and at last, stretching their Mouths 
open, in a yawning, distorted, dreadful manner, in a 
doleful Tone, and as loud as they were able, would utter 
their Prophecies." 

And in this connection we may well quote, in passing, 
John Humfrey, 1 in one of his published letters to John 
Lacy, a leader among the French Prophets in London: 

"Alas, that a Person of such Reason in Discourse 
and Writing should think that to> be transformed into 
a Brute for an Hour or more should be the way to become 
a Prophet." 

It was not long before the Camisards were in conflict 
with the Romish church authorities, and a war of perse- 
cution began, marked on both sides by all the villainous 
savagery of which the Christian mind of the late seven- 
teenth century was capable. Camisards were broken at 
the wheel, Catholic priests were murdered in cold blood ; 
and men, women and children on both sides barbarously 
put to death in a series of savage reprisals. For a long 
time the Camisards were able, under the leadership par- 
ticularly of Cavalier, to maintain a successful guerilla 
warfare even against the troops of the French govern- 
ment. 

Cavalier, who was about twenty-three years of age 
when he became the Camisard commander, proved him- 
self a man of great courage and a successful leader. 
Finally, however, a treaty of peace was concluded with 

1 Humfrey, John: "An Account of the French Prophets and their Pretended 
Inspirations in Three Letters. Sent to John Lacey, Esq." London, 1708, p. S« 



THE CAMISARDS OR FRENCH PROPHETS 73 

the authorities, and some of the prophets went into exile. 
Of these, three arrived in London in September, 1706: 
namely, Elias Marion, John Cavalier, a cousin of the 
great general, and Durand Fage. John Cavalier is de- 
scribed as making 

"a great deal of Noise; He is the youngest of 'em, and 
the most vigorous. Never a one of the three Operators, 
performs better, what depends purely upon the Body: 
But he is not capable of that vast Gravity, which makes 
the Decorum of the Piece. Sometimes, upon the Return 
of his Inspirations, he has not been able to* forbear 
Laughing himself : A Comick part would suit him better. 
But Monsieur Marion has more of the Serious, and a 
better Memory. He has a Capacity of Learning and of 
acting large Parts.". 1 

The manner of Cavalier's conversion savours so 
strongly of the ad hominem methods of the revival or of 
spiritualism that the story is well worth the quoting: 

"His curiosity led him to a numerous Meeting in Barre, 
where a little Boy lying on his Back, with surprizing 
Agitations that frighted him, mark'd him out for a 
Scoffer; and another Boy falling into an Exstasie, com- 
manded the Door to be watch'd, lest he should go away, 
and discover the Assembly. ... A third Boy fell into 
violent Agitations and discovering to him the very 
Thoughts of his Heart, and pressing him to* amend his 
Life, it had, as he says, such Effect upon him, that as 
soon as the Sermon was ended, there seem'd a beating 
like a Hammer in his Breast, which Kindled a Fire in 
his Veins, and was followed by violent Agitations of his 
Head and Body which continue upon him to this very 
Day. At length, after three Quarters of a year's Hiccup 
and Agitations, without Speech, he fell into an extraor- 

1 "Clavis Prophetica or a Key to the Prophecies of Mons. Marion, and the 
Other Camisars," etc. London, 1707; p. 9. 






74 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

dinary Extasy; God open'd his Mouth, and he became 
a Prophet also." x 

Only a short time elapsed before Marion, Cavalier and 
Fage had interested in their ecstasies two men of means 
whose pleasant duty and privilege it was to play the same, 
part which Drummond later played among the Irvingites 
— that of paying the bills. At least, this can be well said 
of Sir Richard Bulkeley. John Lacy, Esq., who had been 
a man of standing, and apparently of some wealth, was 
at the same time a man whose nervous system made it 
possible for him not only to witness, but himself to enjoy, 
the prophet ecstasies. 2 It was not long before he became 
in fact the leader in London of the French Prophets. 

Sir Richard Bulkeley, on the other hand, is a pathetic 
ifigure. He is in the inner circle, and yet not of it. He 
,sees no visions. He does no miracles. He only believes 
and pays. 

"Sir Richard Bulkeley has the Misfortune to be of the 
shortest Size, in respect of his Bodily Stature, and is very 
Crooked. ... A Friend of Sir Richard's observing, that 
since he associated with these pretended Prophets and 
their Abettors, he wore very mean Clothes; ask'd him 
why he did not buy him new ones ; Sir Richard told him, 
that the Spirit had declared* he should be made strait, 
and that he woidd stay till the Spirit had fulfilled his 
Promise, for to buy new ones now, Would be Money 
thrown away to no Purpose, because they would not fit 
him when he wus strait/' 3 

Poor Sir Richard! But he is only one of a great 
multitude, a great multitude, of those whom no man can 

1 Kingston: op. tit., p. 6. 

2 Cf. Calamy, Edmund: "A Caveat against New Prophets," etc. London, 
1708; pp. 6-7. 

3 Kingston: op. cit., pp. 113-4- 



THE CAMISARDS OR FRENCH PROPHETS 75 

number, who have hoped in the hopeless and gone down 
to that bitterest disappointment — the disappointment of 
unanswered faith — because with simple, uncritical minds 
they have believed one who has blasphemed against the 
Holy Ghost. 

Elias Marion was best known for his prophecies. 
Marion seems never to have learned the real art of the 
oracle — indefiniteness. He made definite prophecies, 
which were not fulfilled, with the result that his fellow- 
prophets were obliged to fall into the method of symbolic 
interpretation to explain the non-fulfilment of such 
prophecies as named specifically persons, places, days and 
dates. It is always the part of wisdom for that group 
of gloomy Christians, whose happiness seems to consist 
in the assurance that "one shall be taken and the other 
left," and who feel sure that the times are waxing worse 
and worse, to tell us that we are in the end of the age, 
rather than to name the cataclysmic year. 

Some of the prophecies are listed in a pamphlet 1 pub- 
lished in 1708 as follows: 

"In 1706, they predicted the Fall of Pharaoh 2 to be 
Speedy, at farthest in Three or Four years; that every 
campaign till then should be more and more successful 
each than the other, till his final Downfall. That this 
Year, before the Campaign ended, a great Man in the 
French Court should declare himself a Protestant; that 
Thoulon should be taken, and the Tower-Guns go off in 
a Week : But of late, for very weighty Reasons, they say 
little on that Subject. . . . 

"One of them pretended an Order from the Spirit to 
fast a Week, and so on in different Periods, till he should 
be able to live without victuals altogether. The Upshot 
of this was, that in the Space of about Three Days, he 

1 "An Appeal from the Prophets to their Prophecies, etc." London, 1708; 
PP- 5-7. 

a The King of France. 



76 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

pretended a Counter-Order of the Spirit forthwith to eat, 
and that he did to purpose. And this ended this miracu- 
lous Dispensation. 

"Last Winter, they predicted most destructive pestilen- 
tial Fogs or Mists, that shou'd sweep away, like a Plague, 
a vast Number of the Inhabitants of this City. . . . 

"One of them set a Period when he shou'd receive the 
Gift of Miracles. . . . The Period assign' d is now Ex- 
piring, and he is still as far from Wonder-working as 
ever." 

It is to be noted that in these prophecies are references 
to the working of miracles. The stories of the Cevennes 
abound in miracles. It is only to be expected that John 
Lacy and the London French Prophets would expect and 
would attempt to perform miracles. In Lacy's miracles, 
however, the element of fraud is so obvious that even 
credulity stands aghast. 

Elizabeth Gray or Betty Gray was a woman of rather 
low station whom Lacy had attached to himself. One 
day she pronounced a blessing on Mr. Lacy, very much 
after the fashion of a Shaker or Mormon blessing of 
later days : 

"Rising off her seat, she laid her Hand upon Mr. Lacy ? s 
Head, saying, Thou my child art Happy above all the 
rest, that I have made use of to do my blessed work this 
Day. This Day shall be the beginning of the Miracles 
with you: This Day you shall make the Blind to see: This 
Day I will begin to shew you, in what manner I will have 
it done in: Go in Peace. It is observable, that she did 
confess, when she heard the words of making the Blind 
to see, pronounced out of her own mouth, she had not 
faith to believe it would be. 

"About two a Clock the same Day . . . at Dinner . . . 
on a sudden Betty Gray clap'd her Hands upon her Eyes, 



THE CAMISARDS OR FRENCH PROPHETS 77 

and said in a great Fright, God bless me, and the more 
she rub'd her eyes, the blinder she grew, and in two 
Minutes she found herself quite dark; and so after many 
Tryals being made, as to her Blindness, Dinner being 
ended, she was led into another Chamber, where after 
she had sat on the Bed side about twenty Minutes, she 
turned about, kneeled on the Ground, and soon was in 
Extasie. And then the Spirit spake by her mouth, these 
words : O now you do believe it, do you? She continued 
Praying at the Bed side, seventeen Minutes. Then her 
Agitations returned again." x 

This is followed by some dialogue between Betty and 
Mr. Lacy, during which Mr. Lacy is also manifestly 
"seized with the Spirit/ ' Then 

"he stroaked her eyes three times with his Thumbs, and 
her Sight was restored." 

With the gift of prophesying and the gift of healing, 
we naturally expect — and we are not disappointed — the 
gift of tongues. The manner of a manifestation of the 
tongues is given as follows: 

"Mr. Fage had Warnings of an Extasie; but being 
awed by the presence of some Clergymen, he stifled it; 
but Mr. Facto (according to Facio's own account) fol- 
lowing him to another House, Fage immediately fell into 
an Extasie, and spoke to this Effect : Mon Enfant, je 
m'envaie repandre sur les Ennemis mes Jugements ter- 
rible, & ma dernier Sentence sera, Tring, Trang, Swing, 
Swang, Hing, Hang. Thus in English, My Child, I am 
going to pour out my terrible judgments upon my 
Enemies, and my last Sentence shall be, Tring, Trang, 
Swing, Swang, Hing, Hang. Which unintelligible Jargon 
so stumbled Mr. Facia, that had been conversant in 52 

1 Kingston: op. cit., pp. 79-80. 



78 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

Languages, that he returned home under the greatest 
Concern imaginable; being under Apprehensions, that 
hitherto he and his Friends had been scandalously moek'd, 
abus'd and impos'd on. 

"Here he paus'd, and gave me room to ask him, how 
he surmounted his Difficulty; which he said was by 
applying himself to Prayer, in which he was directed 
not to reject the Prophets. . . . 

"I cannot be positive, whether it was at this time or a 
former, that Mr. Fage said, that the Nation that spoke 
this Language should in a Short time receive the gospel" * 

Fage, however, was not alone in speaking in unknown 
tongues. Before the French Prophets had come to 
England, the phenomenon had been known, and it had 
been counted no small wonder that a Camisard child 2 
could speak while in a trance good French "which at 
another time she could not." 

Lacy also was known to have spoken in other languages. 
At Chelsea 3 he spoke in Latin, although 

"he could not speak in Latin before, nor had read a 
Latin Book this Six and Twenty years." 

"But Mr. Lacy's Spirit delights in Absurdities," says 
Richard Kingston, the writer of "Enthusiastick Impos- 
tors," 

"And therefore at another Meeting gave his blessing 
in English to Frenchmen that could not understand it." 4 

Mr. Kingston also describes 5 a scene which he himself 
witnessed at one of the meetings held at the home of 

1 Kingston : op. cit., pp. 22-23. 

2 Same: p. 12. 

3 Humfrey : op. cit., p. 8. 

4 Kingston : op. cit., p. 52. 
6 Same: pp. 110-2. 



THE CAMISARDS OR FRENCH PROPHETS 79 

"Mrs. East, a Quaker, over against the Black Horse in 
Crutchet-Fryars, London," on October 5, 1707: 

"I observed four young Men and two Women alter- 
nately Gulping, Grunting hideously, and nodding their 
Heads as low as their Breasts, which turning the hinder 
parts of their Perukes over their Faces, made them look 
frightfully. When the last had done, the first began 
again in his turn. I went to him, felt his Pulse, and his 
Wast-coat being unbutton'd, as all those that acted were, 
I apply'd my Hand to his Heart ; but could find no Dis- 
order in his Pulse or Breast, but a violent Heaving in 
his Midriff and the Bottom of his Stomach, to> cause the 
Gulping and loud Hiccuping; And so I attended all the 
Men-Actors round the Room, as their Fits successively 
came upon them ; which they very quietly suffered me to 
do. . . . None of the Men in Agitations spoke at all." 

Then "the Person I sat next to on the Bench, who had 
been quiet all the time before, fell into violent Agitations 
from Head to Foot, more noisie than all the other Four, 
but kept his Seat. I felt his Pulse and Breast as the rest 
but could find no Kind of Alteration, or that the Vitals 
were more concerned than they are in common Actions. 
He started up in a strange and unintelligible Vociferation 
in this manner, Yaugh — Daugh — Faugh — Rough — 
Rough — Faugh — Daugh — Yaugh, and sometimes inter- 
mixing them with very bad French, reflecting upon such 
as came thither out of Curiosity, whom he said God would 
suddenly destroy, and then sat down. 

"I asked him his Name, and if he was in Health, and 
in his Right Mind? He answer'd, His Name was 
Cavalier, that he was in Health, and never better in all 
his Life. I reply' d, Then you must be under some sort 
of a Delusion. He said, How will you prove it? I told 
him I was ready to attempt it, if he would give me leave; 
and as I was beginning to say something to that purpose, 
he fell immediately into violent Agitations, insomuch that, 



80 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

standing* very near him when we spoke together, I was 
forc'd to start back, lest he Should strike me in the Face 
with his Hand. In this Inspiration he began as before, 
just like a Dumb Man, with Yaugh-Daugh, &c. And 
then repeated verbatim what we had privately discoursed, 
and after denouncing some heavy judgments upon me, 
ended with the same inarticulate sounds he began with. 
When among other things, he said / was rich in this 
World's Goods, but God would plague me till I was poor 
in Spirit. Having some reason to know he was a false 
Prophet in that, I could not forbear smiling ; upon which 
an English woman came and whisper'd in my Ear, saying 
Do not Mock, God will strike thee Dumb. . . . 

"The three English Gentlemen I mention' d before, 1 
came to me, and ask'd whether Mr. Cavalier spoke 
French, and what he said. I told him some of it was 
Gibberish, some bad French, and spoken so Thick and 
Passionately that I could not understand him but by 
Snatches. Another gentleman said, I understand and 
speak French, but not one Word of what this Man has 
said all this time. Then the three First shaked their 
Heads and went away." 

Visions and voices play also a considerable part in the 
story of the French Prophets, but about them there is 
nothing new or distinctive. 

On the ethical side we are face to face with the vagaries 
in the vita sexualis which we will learn to look upon as 
our study continues, as an invariable associate of the 
tongues movement. In the Cevennes, the charges of im- 
morality against the Camisards were of the usual sort 
which the persecutor invariably directs against the perse- 
cuted. The Romish writer, a member of a priesthood 
then about as corrupt morally as it could dare to be, 
describes their meetings as "being no better than Stews 

1 Three English gentlemen had come in while these thing9 were going on„ 



THE CAMISARDS OR FRENCH PROPHETS 81 

or Public Places of Prostitution, as manifestly appealed 
by their Incests, Adulteries, Fornications." x 

That charge may be a lie out of the whole cloth, but 
in all probability there is some basis for it. 

Among the French Prophets in London, immorality is 
clearly evident, especially in the relation existing between 
Lacy and Betty Gray. Lacy's embracing Betty Gray 
"under inspiration," 2 Betty's public exhibition of her 
breasts, 3 her willingness to play the leading part in the 
symbolic drama called "The Whore of Babylon," 4 to- 
gether with an alarming array of direct evidence of a more 
specific nature, 5 all point in the same general direction in 
which ecstasy always points — an utter indifference to, or 
shall we say, a transcending of, the seventh commandment 
in all its implications. 

It may be that a mystic may feel that he is nearer 
heaven than a Christian who lacks his assurance of an 
"inner light." But let the mystic be well assured that 
he is perilously nearer to sin. 

1 "Fanaticism Reyiv'd," p. 56. See also pp. 20, 22, 35, 58. 

2 Kingston: op. cit., p. 70. 

3 "The Honest Quaker : or the Forgeries and Impostures of the Pretended 
French Prophets and their Abbetors Exposed in. a Letter," p. 3. 

4 Kingston: op. cit., p. 65. 

5 Same: pp. 45-8. 



CHAPTER V 

THE SHAKERS AND THE MILLENNIAL CHURCH 

Among the proselytes made by the French Prophets 
were James Wardley and Jane, his wife, of Bolton in 
Lancashire. Wardley was a tailor by trade, and, together 
with his wife, had been a member of the Society of 
Friends. Finding, however, greater satisfaction for 
their religious instincts in the ecstasies of the French 
Prophets, the Wardleys became the leaders of a group 
of persons living near their home who "joined with them 
in testifying against all the churches in standing." 1 

The result was that 

"In 1747 they were formed into a small society, with- 
out any established creed or particular manner of worship, 
as they professed to be only beginning to learn the new 
and living way of complete salvation, which had long 
been the subject of prophecy; and therefore they pro- 
fessed to be resigned to be led and governed, from time 
to time, as the spirit of God might dictate." 2 

A short time afterwards the Wardleys moved to 
Manchester, to live with the Townleys, who had joined 
their society. John Townley was a mason by trade and 
was looked upon as considerably better off financially than 
the majority of the members of the organization at 
Manchester. 

1 Brown, Thomas: "An account of the people called Shakers; Their Faith, 
Doctrines, and Practices, etc." Troy, N. Y., 1812; p. 311. 

2 Brown: op. cit,, p. 311. 

82 



THE SHAKERS 83 

"Meetings were frequently held under the ministry of 
Wardley and his wife. Wardley's wife was called 
Mother; to her confessions of sins were made, though 
it was not so much insisted upon. She had the principal 
lead in their meetings, which were generally held at 
Townley's, at which meetings they sometimes sat silent 
a short space, then they would be seized with violent and 
tremulous motions, during which they would express 
their detestation against sin, and its contrariety to the 
divine nature. Sometimes their whole bodies would 
shake as if forcibly agitated by a strong hand; then they 
would sing and shout for the downfall of the anti- 
Christian powers, and make signs, and walk swiftly and 
jostle against one another; they would jump violently, 
and shiver for a considerable length of time. Hence 
as appropriate names for them, they were called shiverers 
by some, and jumpers by others. " 1 

The person destined to the greatest fame among these 
worshippers was Ann Lee, who joined the society in 
1757. She was then about twenty-one years of age. 
The date of her birth is given variously as 1735 and 
1736. She was one of the eight living children of 
John Lee and his wife. 2 Lee was a blacksmith and is 
said 3 to have been a brother of General Charles Lee, of 
American Revolutionary fame. Another brother is also 
said to have attained a position of distinction as sheriff 
of London. The immediate family of John Lee was 
apparently poor and illiterate. Ann Lee was 

"Employed during her childhood and youth in a cotton 
factory in preparing cotton for the looms, and in cutting 
velvet. It has been said that she was also employed as 

1 Brown: op. cit., p. 312, 

2 "Testimonies of the Life, Character, Revelations of Mother Ann Lee," etc. 
Second Edition. Albany, N. Y., 1888; 1:8. The other children are stated to 
be Joseph, James ? Daniel, William, George, Mary and Nancy. 

* Brown: op. cit., p. 312. Cf. Haskett, William T.: "Shakerism Unmasked," 
etc. Pittsfield, 1828; p. 14 (footnote). 



84 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

a cutter of hatter's fur, but this was probably after- 
ward." 1 

At an early age she was married to Abraham Stanley. 2 
Stanley was a blacksmith and worked for her father. 
She bore him eight children, "who all died in infancy 
mostly occasioned by hard labour; her last child was 
extracted by forceps, after which, for several hours, she 
lay with but little appearance of life." 3 Another ac- 
count 4 has it that a Csesarean section was necessary for 
the birth of her last child. 

By 1770 she had attained to* the acknowledged leader- 
ship of the society founded by the Wardleys. It was 
about this time that she professed to receive that revela- 
tion which in time became the cornerstone of Shaker 
theology and polity. The account of that revelation is 
given by Shaker writers as follows : 

"After a scene of deep tribulation, and the most exces- 
sive sufferings and cries to God, she received a full 
revelation of the root and foundation of human depravity, 
and of the very transgression of the first man and woman 
in the garden of Eden. Then, she clearly saw whence 
and wherein all mankind were lost and separated from 
God, and the only possible way of recovery. 

"By the immediate revelation of God, she henceforth 
bore an open testimony against the lustful gratifications 
of the flesh, as the source and foundation of human cor- 
ruption. Her testimony was delivered with such power 
of God and accompanied with the word of prophecy, in 
such a marvelous and searching manner, that it entered 
into the very secrets of the heart; by which means the 

1 "Testimonies" : 1:3. 

2 Or "Standley" as it is sometimes spelled. Cf. Dyer, Mary M.: "The Rise 
and Progress of the Serpent from the Garden of Eden to our Present Day 
with A Disclosure of Shakerism," etc. Concord, N. H., 1847, P« *7- See also 
Haskett: op. cit., p. 14. 

3 Brown: op. cit., p. 313. 

4 Haskett: op. cit., p. 14. 



THE SHAKERS 85 

most hidden abominations were brought to light! She 
testified in the most plain and pointed manner, that no 
soul could follow Christ in the regeneration, while living 
in the works of natural generation and following in their 

lusts." 1 

It was not long before the preaching of her doctrine 
against sexual intercourse — marital or extra-marital — as 
well as the unusual fashion of conducting religious exer- 
cises adopted by the Shakers, drew the attention of the 
constituted authorities to their leader with the result 
that Ann Lee was cast into prison. Of one of her 
imprisonments the following account is given : 

"For fourteen days she was kept without food, nor 
was her cell door once opened during that time. The 
cell was so small that she could neither stand nor sit nor 
even straighten herself. James Whittaker, then a young 
man, felt so strongly for her that he succeeded in con- 
veying to her nightly a small quantity of wine and milk 
by means of a pipe stem inserted in the keyhole of the 
door. This was all the nutriment she received. At the 
end of a fortnight her brutal captors opened the door, 
expecting to drag out her dead body. To their utter 
amazement, she arose and walked off, looking nearly as 
well as ever." 2 

Thomas Brown, in his "History of the Shakers," gives 
the following account of the reminiscences of Mary 
Hocknell of those days of persecution: 

"As to my knowledge of mother Ann Lee, I was very 
intimate with her from the time I was eight or ten years 
old till she died. ... At all times it appeared to be her 
greatest labour and delight to serve God, and to promote 

1 "Testimonies" : 1:13-14. 

* White, Anna, and Taylor, Leila S. : "Shakensm, Its Meaning and Message." 
Columbus, Ohio, 1905; P- 26. 



86 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

the good of mankind. She was a great enemy to, and 
hater of sin; and at all opportunities testified against it. 
... At one time, the worldly authority held a trial 
respecting her; when she was so endued with the spirit 
and power of God, that she spake before the court and 
a large concourse of people in twelve different languages, 
to the astonishment of many present; particularly some 
of the learned who understood her when she spoke in 
French, Hebrew, Greek and Latin: also some being 
present who understood other languages. Thus it was 
a time like unto the day of Pentecost, where every man 
heard the apostles speak in his own language — (Acts 
II : 6). Concerning her so speaking there was much talk 
and wondering for some time. 

"About this time, she was confined two or three months 
in prison ; most of the time she had no other subsistence 
than milk, which I conveyed to her by means of a quill 
through the key-hole ; for they would not open the door 
to let any of her friends see her. They said she was a 
witch, and I know not what all." 1 

Considerable stress is laid by the Shakers upon what 
they conceived to> be the supernatural element in Mother 
Lee's life. The following, taken from "Testimonies of 
Mother Ann Lee," a book based upon the recollections of 
early Shakers, is a typical account of some of the mental 
aspects of her life: 

"In watchings, fastings, tears and incessant cries to 
God, she labored, day and night, for deliverance from 
the very nature of sin. And under the most severe tribu- 
lation of mind, and the most violent temptations and 
buffetings of the enemy, she was often in such extreme 
agony of soul as caused the blood to perspire through 
the pores of her skin. . . . Sometimes for whole nights 
together, her cries, screeches and groans were such as to 
fill every soul around her with fear and trembling, and 

1 Brown : op. cit., pp. 44-7. 



THE SHAKERS 87 

could be compared to nothing but the horrors and agonies 
of souls under sufferings for the violation of the laws 
of God, whose awful states were laid upon her, and whose 
various agonies she was, by turns, made to feel. 

"By such deep mortification and sufferings, her flesh 
was wasted away till she became like a mere skeleton. 
Elder John Hocknell, who had been a member of the 
society under James and Jane Wardley, and was well 
acquainted with Mother Ann through all her sufferings, 
testified that he had known her to be under such power 
and operations of God, attended with such severe suffer- 
ings, for six weeks together, that her earth-tabernacle was 
so reduced that she was as weak as an infant; and was 
fed and supported by others, but utterly incapable of 
helping herself; though naturally of a sound and strong 
constitution, and invincible fortitude of mind. 

"Though Ann was wrought upon in this manner, more 
or less, for the space of nine years, yet she had intervals 
of releasement, and was, at times, filled with visions and 
revelations of God. By this means the Way of God and 
the nature of His work, gradually opened upon her mind 
with increasing light and understanding." 1 

On the nineteenth of May, 1774, Mother Ann, Elder 
William Lee (her brother), Elders James Whittaker and 
John Hocknell, Richard Hocknell, son of John Hocknell, 
James Shepherd, 2 Mary Partington, and Nancy Lee (a 
niece of Mother Ann), set sail from Liverpool for 
America. Abraham Stanley, husband of Mother Ann, 
was also one of the party. They arrived in New York 
on August 6. Mother Lee and her husband lived for 
over a year in New York City at the house of one "Smith" 
in Queen Street. Here Stanley fell sick and was nursed 
faithfully by his prophetic wife. But 

1 "Testimonies"; 1:9-13. 

2 Cf. Brown: op. cit., p. 46, where Mary Hocknell is reported as saying, 
"Twelve of us came; three or four of which were but children, and settled 
here in the wilderness." 



88 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

"Abraham at length recovered, so as to be able to 
walk the streets, and by associating with the wicked, he 
soon lost all sense of the gospel, and began, in a very 
unworthy manner, to oppose Mother's faith, and finally 
refused to do anything for her, unless she would live in 
the flesh with him, and bear children. This proposition 
Mother utterly and positively rejected, which caused a 
final separation between her and Abraham Stanley." 1 

In the early part of 1776, Mother left New York City 
and came to Niskayuna (now Watervliet), where some 
of her followers had already settled. During the Revo- 
lutionary War, the Shakers were subject to some degree 
of persecution, due to their pacifist tendencies and to 
the fact that, having recently come from England, they 
were suspected of being British spies. No doubt, also, 
their well authenticated offences against public decency 
had something to do with public feeling against them. 

From May, 1781, to August, 1783, Mother Lee, ac- 
companied by some of the Elders (apparently Father 
William Lee and Father James Whittaker), "traversed 
the states of Massachusetts and Connecticut, visiting 
thirty-six towns and villages, some of them several times, 
zealously preaching the Gospel committed to their charge. 
Their course was attended by great displays of God's 
presence and the power of the Holy Spirit. Wherever 
they went, numbers accepted the revelation. Their 
coming to Enfield aroused the inhabitants like an inroad 
of pestilence. At Harvard, the vision of a mob in black 
warned Mother Ann of threatening danger; but two 
angels in white were seen to pass safely through the mob 
and enter the Square House, and this gave her assurance 
of protection. ... In Petersham, in December, 1781, 
a dastardly attack was made upon the Shakers at the 

^'Testimonies": 11:3. 



THE SHAKERS 89 

house of David Hammond, where the most inhuman 
personal abuse was inflicted upon Mother Ann and others. 
Father James Whittaker was believed to have been killed, 
but he recovered and prayed for his persecutors, 'Father, 
forgive them; they know not what they do.' The saintly 
forgiving spirit of Mother Ann so broke down these 
wretches that they begged forgiveness for their cruelty." * 

Persecutions followed also during the same winter 
(178 1 -2) at Harvard and Enfield, Massachusetts, and 
various other places. At Harvard the Shakers made 
their headquarters at the so-called "Square House." This 
house had formerly been the home of Shadrach Ireland, 
who had given himself out to be an incarnation of the 
Deity, and at the same time had practised and taught a 
form of free love. The Shakers suffered possibly some- 
what from the odium already attached to the house. 

The missionary journey, during which converts were 
made in the states of Massachusetts and Connecticut, 
ended in September, 1783. Within eighteen months 
Mother Ann and Father William Lee had passed away. 2 

Just what Mother Ann did and how she conducted 
herself upon these missionary journeys is a matter of 
considerable controversy — the nature of the account de- 
pending in large part upon whether the narrator was 
friendly or unfriendly to the Shakers. The Shakers 
picture Mother Ann and Father William as going about 
from place to place, working miracles, preaching the pure 
gospel, and calling forth great signs and wonders. The 
opposite accounts abound in an appalling series of charges 
of drunkenness, unnatural sexual practices, and obscen- 
ities. According to the one, Mother Ann is an angel of 
light; according to the other, a woman of grossly immoral 
life. Shaker tradition sees in her a prophetess and a 

1 White and Taylor: op. cit., p. 48. 
'Same: p. 71. 



90 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

miracle-worker as well as a great teacher of the truth 
heretofore hidden. 

It is exceedingly difficult for the modern student of 
the life of Mother Ann to see anything extraordinary, 
either intellectually or spiritually, in those statements of 
Mother Ann's which are looked upon by her followers 
as prophetic. For example, the Shaker records tell us 
that she told Joseph Meacham, on his arrival on one 
occasion at Watervliet, "I saw you before you crossed 
the river" 1 — a not very remarkable statement in view of 
the fact that Meacham could not have reached Watervliet 
without crossing the river. The same paragraph in the 
"Testimonies" tells us: 

"At another time while Mehetabel (Farrington) was 
there, Mother said she felt that there was a number of 
people coming, and bade the Sisters prepare food for 
them; as soon as the meal was prepared, a number of 
needy people came in, and were made welcome ; not only 
to the victuals, but to the gospel." 

Her prophecies dealt also with the spread of the gospel 
as she proclaimed and understood it: 

"Mother Ann prophesied to Samuel Fitch, at the time 
of his first interview with her, saying, 'After I have done 
my work in this world, there will be a great increase of 
the gospel. It will be like a man's beginning in the world 
and raising up a family of children, gathering an interest, 
then dying, and leaving the interest with his children, 
who will improve thereon and gather more/ . . . 2 

"She also said, 'After my departure there will come 
grievous wolves, who will destroy many of the flock.' " 3 

To Mother Ann is attributed in like manner a remark- 
able insight into the characters and thoughts of others: 

^'Testimonies": XXIV:s. 
3 "Testimonies" : XXI V : 1 1 . 
""Testimonies": XXIV: 12. 



THE SHAKERS 91 

"When Mother Ann visited Joshua Birch's, at Ston- 
ington, there was a young woman then living in the 
family, who was thought to be very honest, and chaste. 
Lois Birch manifested her feelings to Mother in favor 
of the girl's character ; to which Mother replied, 'Are you 
a Christian, and think that girl is chaste and honest? 
You are deceived; she lives in whoredom, with married 
men, young men, black men and boys/ This declaration 
almost staggered Lois' confidence in Mother, believing 
that she knew the girl's character. But, soon after, 
Mother's charges against the girl were proved to a 
demonstration; by which Lois' faith in Mother was 
strengthened, beyond a doubt, that Mother had the reve- 
lation of God, and was able to see what creatures had 
in them. 1 

"While Mother Ann was at Enfield there came a 
woman to see her by the name of Tryphena Perkins, 
who made a great profession of Christianity. But, in 
the hearing of a number of people, Mother Ann reproved 
her for her wickedness, and said, 'You are a filthy whore/ 
This greatly offended her, and she went away and com- 
plained that she had been abused, which furnished 
Mother's enemies, as they supposed, with sufficient cause 
to prosecute her. They now began to flatter themselves 
that they were able to prove Mother a false prophetess, 
and determined to prosecute her for defamation. They 
said they could prove to a certainty, that Tryphena's 
organization was such that she could not, possibly, be 
guilty of the charge of whoredom ; she was called a great 
Christian, and, of necessity, a pure virgin. But, behold,, 
she was soon found to be with child, by a married man !: 
This was well known throughout the town of Enfield,, 
and Mother's enemies were greatly abashed and con- 
founded" 2 



1 "Testimonies": XXV:n. 

2 "Testimonies" : XXV : i z. 



92 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

The record of miracles worked by Mother Ann is large. 
The following are typical illustrations: 

In the year 1780, Noah Wheaten, of New Lebanon, 
"dislocated his ancle outwardly, and split or broke the 
outer bone of his leg, just above the ancle joint. . . . 
After groaning and wallowing in this situation a while, 
he crawled to the spring and back to the place where 
he had been at work. ... At length he crawled home 
on his hands and knees, and although under extreme 
mortification of spirit for this misfortune, yet he was 
full of faith and confidence in the gift of miracles, which 
he had before strongly testified to his unbelieving neigh- 
bors. . . . Feeling full confidence in the gift of God, 
he refused to have a doctor called, or any attempt to 
set the bone, or even any outward application for the 
mitigation of his pain. That, consequently, his ancle 
and leg swelled greatly, turned black, and was excessively 
painful. . . . Thus he continued from about two o'clock 
in the afternoon till the evening of the following day; 
during which time his mind was in agonizing labor to 
God for a miraculous cure ; which, with his extreme pain, 
forced the sweat in plentiful effusions, from every pore 
of his body. 

"At length, as his family, consisting of ten in number, 
were assembled at their evening worship, in the room 
where he was then sitting upon a chest, the power of 
God came suddenly upon him, and he was instantly 
hurled from his seat, and set upon his feet, and whirled 
swiftly about like a top, for the space of two hours, 
without the least pain or inconvenience. That he then 
retired to rest, well and comfortable, and the next morn- 
ing, arose in health, took his team and went to plowing." * 

Phebe Spencer, of New Lebanon, aged seventy-three 
years, testifies 2 that in the year 1781 she broke her ribs, 

1 "Testimony of Christ's Second Appearing," etc. Albany, N. Y. t 1856. 
Fourth Edition, pp. 416-8. Book VIII, Chap. X:is-20. 
*Same: 28-31 (pp. 419-20). 



THE SHAKERS 93 

refused medical aid and sent for the elders, among whom 
were Hezekiah Hammond and others of the Believers. 



"They entered the room, where she sat bolstered up 
in her bed. . . . Hezekiah took hold of her hand and 
bade her labor for the power of God and take faith. . . . 
She was immediately seized with a shaking, like one in 
a strong fit of the ague, which so far released her, that 
she was able to speak and breathe without difficulty; 
. . . her pain still continued, and she was yet unable to 
move or help herself. . . . She, however, rested some 
that night. . . . The next morning, after breakfast, 
Hezekiah came again in the room and assembled all the 
family that were then at home, consisting of her husband, 
two sons, and seven daughters, and desired them all to 
kneel down with him. . . . After continuing on their 
knees a few minutes, they arose, and Hezekiah came to 
the bed side, took her by the hand, and desired her to 
get up. . . . With some difficulty, she got up and sat in 
a chair. . . . They again kneeled in a circle round her, 
after which Hezekiah bade her stand up; which she 
accordingly did. . . . He then put one hand upon her 
head, and the other upon her side, at which she felt such 
a glow of the power of God, as she was unable to describe, 
which first struck her head, and then ran down her right 
side; instantly she felt her ribs sensibly press outward 
against his hand, and her side was immediately healed." 

Over against these records of the putative supernatural 
powers of Mother Ann and the tribute which Shakers of 
all ages pay to her abilities and character, is a record of 
an entirely different sort. Charges of the practice of 
immorality have been brought against practically every 
great leader in both religious and civil life. It is not to 
be wondered at that such charges were brought against 
Mother Ann. Among these charges appear the claim 



94 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

that, when in England, Mother Ann was a prostitute, 1 
that in New York she suffered from a venereal disease, 2 
contracted as a result of her loose way of living, and 
that she was guilty of incestuous relations 3 with her 
brother, William Lee. 

All of these charges may be, in the main, untrue. But 
that she was the leader in practices under the name of 
religious rites which were in their psychological nature 
perversions of the sexual instinct, is without the least 
doubt true. 

In connection with the dancing, which became an 
essential part of Shaker worship, the practice of dancing 
naked was developed under the leadership of Mother Ann. 
There seems to be no definite evidence of this practice 
on the part of the early Shakers before their coming to 
this country. There is very clear evidence of the practice 
in the early days of the church in this country. 4 So com- 
mon was the practice that Eunice Stanton, who joined 
the Shakers under the influence of her husband and 
later withdrew, summed up the Shaker religion by stating 
that, 

"Their religion consisted in confessing sin to the 
leaders, dancing and whirling, speaking in their unknown 
tongues, as they called it, stripping and dancing naked 
together, men and women." 5 

One of the best known of the early books against 
Shakerism is by Thomas Brown. 6 Brown had been, as is 
likely to be the case with persons who connect themselves 
with sects like the Shakers, a sort of religious wanderer. 

1 Dyer, Mary M. : op. cit., pp. 20-24. 

2 Same: pp. 22-4. Also p. 85. 

3 Same: pp. 46-7. 

* The Jumpers were accused of the same practice. See Tyerman: op. ctt., 
Vol. II, pp. 480-1. 

5 Dyer: op. cit., p. 62. 

6 Op. cit., supra. 



THE SHAKERS 95 

He had been brought up a Quaker and had later become 
a sort of itinerant Methodist preacher. Then he attached 
himself to the Shakers, largely on account of his interest 
in the Millennium. For a time he was zealous in win- 
ning proselytes to the new cause, but ultimately fell away. 
Brown had heard about the reports that the earlier 
Shakers had danced naked, and in his conversation with 
Mary Hocknell, to which reference has been made, 1 had 
brought up the subject. 2 After she has told the story 
of the small beginnings of Shakerism and of its rapid 
spread in America, Brown says: 

"I replied, it is admirable ; and the hand of God appears 
so conspicuous, that it is needless to regard any reports 
to invalidate it. But that I may be able to satisfy honest, 
inquiring minds, who may have heard false reports, not 
knowing but what they were true, and be able to contra- 
dict them, or represent things in a true light, from good 
authority, and information received from eye, and ear 
witnesses, I make free to ask thee a question concerning 
a report which has been, and still is asserted to be a fact 
by many who have been among the people, and have left 
them ; which is, that these people, in Mother's day, by her 
gift, or by order of some of the other Elders, were 
repeatedly in the practice of dancing naked, men and 
women together, in their meetings. 

"She answered, 'I am sure Mother was a very modest 
woman; and if there had been any such conduct, I should 
have seen, or known it, which I never did. There were 
many operations by the power of God, and wonderful 
gifts; as speaking in unknown tongues, trembling, groan- 
ing, and sometimes turning round; on account of which, 
people would report we were drunk, as they did formerly 
about the apostles who had similar gifts and operations — 
(Acts, chap. II). And because the brethren pulled off 

1 Brown : op. cit., p. 46. 

2 Op. cit., pp. 46-7. 



96 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

their coats, or outside garments, to labour, or as the 
world call it, dancing; and in warm weather the sisters 
being lightly clothed, they would report we danced 
naked.' " 

On the strength of this conversation, Brown vehe- 
mently denied 1 the charge against the early Shakers of 
dancing naked when it was made in his presence. But 
on account of the frequent repetition of the charge, he 
raised the question again with one of the Elders, whom 
he calls Elder Hezekiah 2 : 

"Elder Hezekiah answered me : 'I never saw any such 
conduct, neither do I believe there ever has been any such 
conduct.' And he intimated to me that he did not wish 
me to give people the lie; the person I had mentioned 
might have seen such conduct, which, if he did, must have 
been by some out of order, or that the church had no 
union with." 

Later on, in talking with Elder John Meacham, at 
Niskayuna, he states 3 that, after conversation on various 
subjects, "I told him at last, I desired to open a matter 
wherein my faith was hurt, and wherein I had reason to 
be dissatisfied ; and that is, said I, respecting Elder Heze- 
kiah and also several of the old believers having denied 
that they had ever danced naked." 

After some discussion on the part of both, Elder 
Meacham finally replied : 

"If Elder Hezekiah, or any of the old believers have 
said or done wrong, they will have to answer for their 
wrongs themselves. Therefore, you should not let 
wrongs and failings in others hurt your faith; but con- 
fess and forsake your own wrongs." 

1 Brown: op. cit., p. 84. 

3 Op. cit., p. 108. Probably Elder Hezekiah Hammond. 

8 Op. cit., pp. 171-2. See also p. 170. 



THE SHAKERS 97 

Brown goes on to state further * : 

"In a few months after this conference (some time in 
February, 1805), I was at Lebanon; and the first con- 
ference I had was with Elder Hezekiah, respecting my 
charge of falsehood. . . . Now, said I, Elder Hezekiah, 
I know the old believers, or church brethren and sisters 
have danced naked repeatedly, under an idea, or with 
intention, to mortify the fleshly nature, and you have 
danced so with them. 

"He replied, 'Yea, once; and I did not tell you there 
never had been such conduct, but that I did not know 
of nor believe there was any such conduct now.' " 

When pressed further, the Elder finally stated: 

"Since I have been called to be an Elder and minister 
I have been sorry I ever saw such conduct among the 
people ; for I have been often asked the question by young 
believers, and people of the world; and often I have 
known not what answer to give, as it would not do to 
tell them we had danced naked, admitting it to- have been 
a real gift of God; it would have been so out of their 
sight, they could not see it nor receive it as such." 2 

In these dances as many as thirty persons 3 sometimes 
took part. Sometimes men and women danced naked 
together. At other times the women danced by them- 
selves; at still other, the men danced by themselves. 
Brown tells us on the authority of Daniel Rathbone, Jr., 
of the following incident which is said to have occurred 
in the first days of the church : 

"One day, said he, in the afternoon, William Lee, 
having drunk very freely, fell asleep; when he awoke, 

1 Brown: op. cit., p. 173. 

2 Op. cit., p. 174. 

* Dyer, Mary: op. cit., pp. 47-5*, 94-5, 140 (footnote), 145, See also Haskett: 
op. cit., pp. 38, 54, 76 (footnote), and Brown: op. cit., p. 293. 



98 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

he ordered the brethren (in number about twenty) to be 
assembled, I being one with them. William Lee then 
informed us that he had a gift to rejoice — and ordered 
us to strip ourselves naked; and as we stood ready to 
dance, Mother Ann Lee came to the door of the room 
with one of the sisters. William Lee requested her to 
stay out, as he had a gift to rejoice with the brethren. 
Still she persisted. He said to her again, Mother, do go 
out — I have got a gift to rejoice with the brethren; and 
why can't you let us rejoice? You know if any of the 
sisters are with us, we shall have war, that is, have to 
fight against the rising of nature. But as she would not 
retire, he pushed her out, and shut the door against her. 
Then she went round the corner of the house, and at- 
tempted to get in at a window. Lee prevented her. 
She came to the door again, with a stick of wood, and 
stove it open. Lee met her at the door. She struck him 
with her fists in the face. He said, the smiting of the 
righteous is like precious ointment. She then gave him 
several blows in quick succession, at each of which he 
made the same reply. At last, the blood beginning to 
run, he lost all patience, and exclaimed, 'Before God you 
abuse me'; and presented his fists and struck her, and 
knocked her almost down." * 

The practice of both sexes bathing naked 2 together 
was another of the rites inaugurated in the church in 
Mother Ann's day. Reuben Rathbone, who published 
one of the earliest attacks upon the Shakers — a pamphlet 
which he wrote prior to 1801, entitled "Reasons offered 
for leaving the Shakers," had been charged with im- 
moral relations with the woman whom he subsequently 
made his wife. She also had been a Shaker and had left 
the Shakers to marry Rathbone. In defending himself 
against the charge, Rathbone wrote, inter alia: 

1 Brown: op. cit., p. 290. 

2 Dyer, Mary: "A Portraiture of Shakerism," etc. 1822; p. 141. See also 
Haskett: op. cit., pp. 45-54- 



THE SHAKERS 99 

"From the time I first professed Christianity (which 
was a year or two before I heard of the people called 
Shakers), to this day, I never have had any unlawful 
connection with any woman; and from the time I first 
knew the Shakers to this time, I never defiled myself 
with what is called among you effeminacy; neither did I 
ever know, by any certain knowledge, while I lived with 
you, that there was any females in the church or any- 
where else, except it was at the time when there was a 
gift for men and women to strip naked and go in the 
water together, I was sometimes a spectator, and perhaps 
might observe the difference." x 

That the practices of dancing naked and of bathing 
promiscuously were akin to sexual perversion is suggested 
in the following statement 2 : 

"I have seen the Mother at Niskeuna, in the State of 
New York, in times of her intoxication, come into a 
room where many were gathered for a meeting and were, 
by her own orders, stript naked; I have seen her slap 
the men — rub her hands on all parts of their bodies. — 
press the men to her bosom — and make them suck a dry 
breast — all this time she would be humming and making 
an enchanting noise." 

There is a very considerable amount of testimony to 
other practices of a distinctly sexual nature. William 
Skails, a member of the society, on one occasion 3 

"stripped himself naked and testified his faith before 
Lucy Wright, the present mother of the church, Samuel 
Fitch, John Truesdell and several other believers, saying, 

1 Brown: op. cit., p. in (footnote). 

2 Brown: op. cit., pp. 90-91 (footnote). For similar incidents, see Dyer: 
"Rise and Progress," p. 81. 

3 Brown: op. cit., pp. 327-8. For similar occurrences, see Dyer: "Portraiture," 
p. 189. For practices of this sort among the early Quakers, see Bowden, James: 
"The History of the Society of Friends in America." London, 1850. Vol. 
I, pp. 272-3. 



100 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

'Naked came I into the world and naked must I go out; 
and naked must my soul stand before God, as naked as 
my body stands before you.' " 

Skails is said later to have left the society, and to have 
become its bitter enemy. Later he is said 1 to have be- 
come "somewhat delirious." 

John Woods, who lived with the Shakers for about 
seventeen years, tells a similar story 2 : 

"A man I knew, who had fallen so frequently in this 
way, and so frequently confessed it, that he at length 
thought he felt a gift which might answer the purpose 
to mortify this propensity. In a room where a number 
of us were assembled, both brothers and sisters, without 
giving any previous notice, he openly and clearly exposed 
a certain part, which he said was to him as Alexander 
the coppersmith was to Paul, having done him much harm. 
While he exhibited he exclaimed, 'This is my god.' No 
one in the room seemed at that time to doubt the fact, 
nor his honest intention to mortify the flesh." 

The efforts to "mortify the flesh" are suggestive of 
Roman Catholic efforts after sacerdotal celibacy. 

"After working hard days, we were ordered into the 
dance, or labor as it was then called, for hours, and 
urged to labor more zealously to overcome sin. . . . 
Then, after dancing with vehemence through the greater 
part of the night, instead of reposing their weary bodies 
upon a bed, by further penance, lie down upon the floor, 
chairs, ropes, sticks, and every humiliating and mortify- 
ing posture they could devise." 3 

1 Brown: op. cit., p. 328. 

2 Woods, John: "Shakerism Unmasked," etc. Paris, Ky., 1826; p. 19. 

3 See Woods: op. cit., p. 37. Dyer: "Rise and Progress," p. 111. Haskett: 
op. cit., p. 103. 



THE SHAKERS 101 

Another practice for the mortification of the flesh was 
flagellation 1 — a practice to which a stop was put through 
the influence of Mother Lucy Wright and Father Mea- 
cham. 2 In Mother Ann's time it was common. 

'Though Elder Whittaker did not fully unite with this 
stripping naked, and would often leave the room, he said 
those gifts of Mother which he could not see into, he 
would not condemn. Several were whipped, and some 
were ordered to whip themselves, as a mortification to 
the flesh. A young woman by the name of Elizabeth 
Cook was stripped and whipped naked, by Noah Wheaton, 
for having desires towards a young man — Abiel Cook, 
her father, hearing of it, prosecuted Noah Wheaton for 
whipping his daughter naked. Hannah Cook, sister to 
Elizabeth, who was present at the time, was called for 
a witness. She went to Elder Whittaker and asked him 
what she should say. 

"He answered — 'I cannot tell you what you must say, 
for I don't know what questions will be asked you ; but,' 
says he, 'speak the truth, and spare the truth, and take 
care not to bring the gospel into disrepute.' 

"She accordingly testified before the court that her 
sister, who was whipped, was not naked. Thus she 
obeyed Whittaker's orders ; for, strictly speaking, she was 
not naked, for she had at the time a fillet on her head. 3 

"The last instance of stripping naked, and of corporal 
punishment, was at Niskeuna about the year 1793. Two 
young women, by name Abigal Lemmons, Saviah Spires 
and another who has since left the people, and had rather 
her name should not be publicly mentioned, amused them- 
selves by attending to the amour of two flies in the win- 
dow: they were told by Eldress Hannah Matterson for 
thus gratifying their carnal inclinations, and as a morti- 
fication to the same, they must strip themselves naked 

1 See Haskett: op. cit., pp. 43, 56-8. 
2 Haskett: op. cit., p. 139. 
'Brown: op. cit., pp. 322-3. 



102 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

and take whips she had provided and whip themselves, 
and then whip each other ; two happened at once, to strike 
the third, when she cried murder! They were then 
ordered to stop and to plunge into a brook near by; all 
this was done in the presence and under the approbation 
of Elder Timothy Hubbard and Jonathan Slosson, one 
of the brethren." * 

A study of literature hostile to the Shakers, as well 
as literature friendly) to that people, brings to light the 
fact to be expected — that the Shakers, no more than the 
Roman Catholic priesthood or any other celibate sect or 
order, have been able to eliminate the sexual instinct as 
a tremendous factor in life. The sort of sexual grati- 
fication which is an expression of an abnormal mind was 
definitely in evidence in the days when Shakerism was 
making great numbers of converts, and all types of people 
united with the movement. In like manner, there are 
frequent references to sodomy, 2 bestiality, 3 and other 
expressions of the sexual instinct which may readily be 
expected from those who are denied, through a religious 
or any other motive, a normal sexual life. There are 
frequent references to sexual familiarity among the elders 
and the eldresses, 4 to the use of contraceptives, 5 to spir- 
itual marriage, 6 and to "conduct shocking to modesty." 7 

Ann Lee was succeeded in the headship of the church 
by James Whittaker, who died in 1787. Whittaker's 
successors were Joseph Meacham and Lucy Wright. 
Meacham, who had been a Baptist preacher, brought to 
his task a mind trained along theological lines, and a 

1 Brown: op. cit., p. 335. See also Dyer: "Rise and Progress," pp. 49, 66, 
73-4. Haskett: op. cit., pp. 136, 161. Dyer: "Portraiture," pp. 90-2, 105-6. 

2 Woods: op. cit., p. 51. 

3 Woods: op. cit., p. 51. Dyer: "Rise and Progress," p. 36. Haskett: op. 
cit., "Sealed Pages, 19*." "Testimonies," XXVII \2\ (p. 191). 

4 Dyer; "Rise and Progress," pp. 38-9, 102-3, 231. 

5 Same: p. 89. 

6 Haskett: op. cit., p. 224. Dyer: "Portraiture," p. 236. 

7 Woods: op. cit., p. 20. 



THE SHAKERS 103 

valuable ability for the effecting of organisation. It is 
Meacham who played probably the most considerable part 
in the development of Shaker theology, as well as in the 
development of the Shaker hierarchy and the Shaker 
communistic system. 

The first of the Shaker permanent communities was 
established in 1787 at Mt. Lebanon, N. Y. Before many 
years had passed, societies had been established at Water- 
vliet, N. Y. ; Hancock, Mass. (1790) ; Harvard and Shir- 
ley, Mass.; Enfield, Conn.; Enfield, N. H. ; Canterbury, 
N. H. ; Alfred, Maine; New Gloucester, Maine, and at 
other places. Fertile soil for Shaker doctrines and ideas 
was found wherever a revival had taken place. Particu- 
larly was this true of the Kentucky Revival. 

"Repeated prophecies had been uttered by Mother Ann 
Lee, that the next opening of the Gospel would be in a 
level country to the southwest. The meaning was not 
understood, for but little was known of the region re- 
ferred to, the country being a wilderness, sparsely settled 
and covered with roving tribes of Indians. In 1804 
news reached the eastern societies of a wonderful work 
of God that had been in progress, for several years, in 
Ohio and Kentucky. The stories were so remarkable, 
the circumstances so like those known in earlier days in 
the east, that believers recognised the fulfillment of the 
well remembered predictions. The Church at Mount 
Lebanon, accordingly, sent out three brethren to< bear, to 
those who might be ready to receive it, the tidings of 
the establishment of what was called, in the thought of 
the time, The Church of Christ's Second Appearing.' 

"John Meacham (brother of Joseph), Benjamin S. 
Youngs, and Issacher Bates started from Mount Lebanon 
at 3 a. m. on the first of January, 1805, to pursue on foot 
this long journey of over one thousand miles. They had 
one horse to carry necessary baggage." * 

1 White and Taylor: op. cit, p. 113. 



104 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

In the latter part of March they came to Turtle Creek 
(now Union Village, Ohio) and were entertained by a 
man named Worley, who, with his wife and also his 
pastor, the Rev. Richard McNemar, a New Light Presby- 
terian, became converts to the Shaker gospel. It is to 
Mr. McNemar that we owe a history of the Kentucky 
Revival. 1 In a short time Shaker communities sprang 
into being at Buaro, Indiana; Shawnee Run or Pleasant 
Hill, Kentucky, Turtle Creek, Ohio, and other places. 
The first named, however, was, in 1826, abandoned. 

The Shaker conception of God is that of a dual person 
— a deity in His first manifestation male, Jesus; in His 
second appearing, female, Ann Lee. It is logical to 
believe, they argue, that since woman was first in the 
fall, she should be last in the work of redemption and 
salvation. 

Another argument is by analogy from the nature of 
man. It is based on a conception, possibly analogous to 
biology's conception of very rudimentary forms of life — 
the conception that Adam was dual as first created — 
hermaphroditic, in his sexual nature: 

"The first man was created male and female jointly, 
but neither was male or female separately, until the 
woman was taken out of the man. So in the first appear- 
ing of Christ, that spirit of annointing which constituted 
Christ was male and female jointly, but not separately 
in visible order : Nor could any abiding and perfect spir- 
itual union exist in order, between the sexes, until the 
woman was raised up, in her appointed season, and 
anointed to complete the order in the foundation of the 
new creation, for the redemption of both man and 
woman." 2 

1 Op. cit., supra. 

8 "Testimonies to Christ's Second Appearing/' etc. VII 1: 5- 12 (P- 381). 



THE SHAKERS 105 

All this, when summed up, amounts to saying that 
Ann Lee was the fulfilment of the promise which our 
Lord made that He would come again. We are not to 
say, ,u Lo! here," or "Lo! there." Christ has come. 
He is Ann Lee. 

We are now in the Millennium, ushered in by the 
appearing of Ann Lee. Just as Adam and Eve were 
our first parents after a carnal manner, so Jesus and Ann 
Lee are the parents of the creation after a spiritual 
manner. Carnal generation must in this new generation 
be done away with. Hence the physiological intercourse 
of the sexes among the Shakers is prohibited. Those 
who become Shakers dedicate themselves to a life of 
celibacy. The men live with men, the women with 
women. Lightness, frivolity or undue friendship be- 
tween individuals of the two sexes is not merely dis- 
couraged, but forbidden. Children are adopted from the 
world. 

As Ann Lee discovered through a vision, the sin of 
our first parents was in sexual intercourse. Being cruci- 
fied is simply denying oneself an expression of one's 
sexual nature through normal channels. Confession of 
sin to the elders and eldresses is absolutely imperative and 
becomes an effective weapon in maintaining discipline. 

"In worship the exercises employed by the Shakers are 
said to be derived from the inspiration of the Spirit. 
Elder, or Father, Joseph Meacham affirmed that he was 
shown in vision the various exercises, saw the hosts of 
heaven worshipping in these movements, and he taught 
them to the people. Modern experts in physical culture 
have in some cases studied out scientifically the very move- 
ments which marked the early Shaker worship. Of these, 
the only one that forms a part of present-day worship 
is the march, accompanied by motions of the hands. 
Shakers have been noted for their inspirational singing, 



106 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

the wordless songs practiced for years giving place to 
hymns and anthems of peculiar but impressive sort." 1 

The dances of the early Shakers formed a very essen- 
tial part of their religious worship. Stress was laid upon 
the solemn nature of these exercises, and only those who 
felt convinced that they were of pure heart were permitted 
to participate. 

"I have often heard the elders," Brown tells us, 2 "or 
the one who has the lead of the meeting, after speaking 
a few words, conclude by one or the other of the follow- 
ing sentences : 'All who feel justified — or such as have 
not violated their consciences. — or those who have no sin 
covered, may prepare to labour in the works of God, or 
go forth in the works of God.' 

"And there is so much said and preached on the direful 
consequences of presuming to join in this part of wor- 
ship, with any sin unconfessed, or if they are in any 
respect irreconciled to the Elders, or to the gifts they 
have had for them, or irreconciled to any of the brethren, 
that many would not dare to join in the dance, believing 
if they did, some judgment would fall on them. — And 
they believe the Elders see through and through them, 
and sin is not long hid from them. 

"The following instance which was told me among 
many others, may clearly evince the truth of this asser- 
tion : 'One of the young sisters committed sin in meeting, 
by looking at a young man, a spectator. ... At this time 
James Whittaker, being in a room in the upper part of 
the meeting house, and having a sense of what was done, 
came down into the meeting room while they were 
dancing, and said, /God is of purer eyes than to behold 
iniquity. There is sin committed and covered among 
you, and your worship will not be owned until it is put 

1 United States Census, 19 10: Religious Bodies, II, p. 222. 

2 Op. cit., pp. 100-101. 



THE SHAKERS 107 

away! The young woman was convicted, knowing her- 
self guilty, fell on her knees, and confessed she had 
sinned; after which, he told them they might proceed." 

"The dance was of two kinds," according to John 
Woods * : 

"the step dance and the step and shuffle. The first 
was then by way of contempt and derision called Bumbo, 
being more proper for the younger class, and such as 
were yet full of laziness and lust. But after the people 
of the church began to confess their sins, one to another, 
and to war against the devil, and if possible to drive him 
out, their dances became more disorderly, and their exer- 
cises more extravagant than ever. They were now seen 
throwing their arms about, throwing themselves down, 
whirling like a top, tossing against one another, stamping 
on each other's feet, etc., till the meeting house floor and 
many of their garments were marked with blood. On 
such occasions for a while the ministry greatly encouraged 
them in this warring gift." 

Another form of the exercises is thus described 2 : 

"Frequently all would assemble together in the meeting 
room — there the sisters would pull some one of the 
brothers into a large circle of females, and then dance 
round him, and sleek his head with their hands, and cut 
so many monkey capers that the whole assembly would 
laugh immoderately. When this gift was finished, the 
brothers would pull one of the sisters into a large circle 
of the males, and dance round her, and confine her there 
till she should look pleasantly, and dance with them, and 
signify her fellowship with all their antiques. After this 
alternate play we would run round the room, two and 
two, with great rapidity, while some were singing, and 

1 Op. cit., pp. 37-8. 

8 Brown: op. cit., pp. 70-1. 



108 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

others vociferating from the windows, and calling in a 
hideous manner for others to come." 

The following description of Shaker life and practices 
is from the pen of Charles Nordhofr" * : 

"Their evenings are well filled with such diversions as 
they regard wholesome. Instrumental music they do not 
generally allow themselves, but they sing well ; and much 
time is spent in learning new hymns and tunes, which they 
profess to receive constantly from the spirit world. Some 
sort of meeting of the family is held every evening. At 
Mount Lebanon, for instance, on Monday evening there 
is a general meeting in the dining-hall, where selected 
articles from the newspapers are read, crimes and acci- 
dents being omitted as unprofitable; and the selections 
consisting largely of scientific news, speeches on public 
affairs, and the general news of the world. They prefer 
such matter as conveys information of the important 
political and social movements of the day; and the elder 
usually makes the extracts. At this meeting, too, letters 
from other societies are read. On Tuesday evening they 
meet in the assembly hall for singing, marching, etc. 
Wednesday night is devoted to a union meeting for con- 
versation. Thursday night is 'a laboring meeting,' which 
means the regular religious service, where they 'labor to 
get good.' Friday is devoted to new songs and hymns; 
and Saturday evening to worship. On Sunday evening, 
finally, they visit at each other's rooms, three or four 
sisters visiting the brethren in each room, by appointment, 
and engaging in singing and in conversation upon general 
subjects. 

"In their religious services there is little or no audible 
prayer; they say that God does not need spoken words, 
and that the mental aspiration is sufficient. Their aim, 
too, as they say, is to 'walk with God/ as with a friend; 
and mental prayer may be a large part of their lives with- 

1 Op. cit., supra, pp. 14 1-4. 



THE SHAKERS 109 

out interruption to usual avocations. They do not regu- 
larly read the Bible. 

"The Sunday service is held either in the 'meeting- 
house,' when two or three families, all composing the 
society, join together, or in the large assembly hall which 
is found in every family house. In the meeting-house 
there are generally benches, on which the people sit until 
all are assembled. In the assembly hall there are only 
seats ranged along the walls; and the members of the 
family, as they enter, take their accustomed places, 
standing, in the ranks which are formed for worship. 
Then men face the women, the elder men and women in 
the front, the elders standing at the head of the first rank. 
A somewhat broad space or gangway is left between the 
two front ranks. After the singing of a hymn, the elder 
usually makes a brief address upon holiness of living and 
consecration to God; he is followed by the eldress; and 
thereupon the ranks are broken, and a dozen of the 
brethren and sisters, forming a separate square on the 
floor, begin a lively hymn tune, in which all the rest join, 
marching around the room to a quick step, the women 
following the men, and all often clapping their hands. 

"The exercises are varied by reforming the ranks; by 
speaking from men and women; by singing; and by 
dancing as they march, 'as David danced before the Lord' 
— the dance being a kind of shuffle. Occasionally one of 
the members, more deeply moved than the rest, or perhaps 
in some tribulation of soul, asks the prayers of the others ; 
or one comes to the front, and, bowing before the elder 
and eldress, begins to whirl, a singular exercise which is 
sometimes continued for a considerable time, and is a 
remarkable performance. Then some brother or sister is 
impressed to deliver a message of comfort or warning 
from the spirit-land; or some spirit asks the prayers of 
the assembly ; on such occasions the elder asks all to kneel 
for a few moments in silent prayer. 

"In their marching and dancing they hold their hands 



110 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

before them, and make a motion as of gathering some- 
thing to themselves; this is called gathering a blessing. 
In like manner, when any brother or sister asks for their 
prayers and sympathy, they, reversing their hands, push 
toward him that which he asks. 

"All the movements are performed with much pre-* 
cision and in exact order; their tunes are usually in quick 
time, and the singers keep time admirably. The words 
of the elder guide the meeting; and at his bidding all 
disperse in a somewhat summary manner. It is, I believe, 
an object with them to vary the order of their meetings, 
and thus give life to them." 

To the testimony of Nordhoff, a visitor, may be sub- 
joined the testimony of Lamson, a "young believer' ' of- 
the sect. David R. Lamson, who spent two years among 
the Shakers as a sort of unwelcome neophyte, writes as 
part of his diary under date of February 23, 1845 1; 

"Meeting to-day at the meeting-house, a free and lively 
meeting. Commenced as usual by singing. Many sing- 
ers, sing loud, lively tunes, but there is very little melody, 
or harmony in the singing. Speaking by David Terry. 
He hoped every one, brethren and sisters, has 'sot' out de- 
termined to persevere in the way of God. Every one has 
got a work to perform. 'Tain't' something that we can 
begin and labor a little while and then leave off ; but we've 
got to* labor for it. Every one has got to strive for one. 
So I hope brethren and sisters, we shall every one labor 
to become zealous in every good work. Labor to come 
to the truth. The truth is worth more than all the news, 
and all the great histories, and all of everything that has 
ever been printed by human hand. So brethren and 
sisters, I hope we may be able to make some gain in the 
good things of the Spirit." 

1 Lamson, David R. : "Two Years' Experience Among the Shakers," etc. West 
Boyleston, 1848; pp. 85-8. 



THE SHAKERS 111 

After another exhortation in much a similar vein, those 
present were invited to "go forth in the travel manner." 
Lamson continues : 

"The singers, about six or eight or more of them, 
then placed themselves in the center of the room, in two 
ranks, the one facing the other, sisters facing sisters, 
and brethren facing brethren, with the spit box in the 
middle. And the remainder formed a circle around 
them, three abreast. The brethren by, themselves, form- 
ing one segment of the circle, and the sisters by them- 
selves, forming the other. The children form the inside 
file of the circle. The singers then strike up a march, 
which they sing over four or five times, repeating once, 
each part of the tune, every time; while the company 
march, and all, both singers and laborers beat the time 
with their hands. Each placing his two hands before 
him in a horizontal direction moves them up and down 
in time with the tune. When the tune ceases all stop 
until another tune is struck. After a few tunes in this 
way, Elder brother says, the brethren and sisters may 
take their places to go forth in the quick manner. 

"They then took their places ; the sisters in the east part 
of the hall, and the brethren in the west, leaving a space 
between. There is not much regularity to this dance. 
Except that the singers form a line in front of a seat 
which runs east and west on the north side of the hall, 
standing about middle way. The company stand facing 
the singers, the elders being in front, and nearest the 
middle of the hall from east to west. When a tune is 
struck up, they turn, the brethren to the left, and the sis- 
ters to the right, and perform a sort of trotting step, each 
company around its own division of the room until the 
set of the tune, when all turn facing the singers and 
shuffle. This continues for about three minutes; when 
there is a respite for half a minute or a minute. And 
another tune is struck. At the intervals of the tunes, 
there is sometimes speaking. Some brother, or sister, 



112 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

-expresses their thankfulness for their privilege in the 
Gospel, and express their determination to be obedient 
to their beloved elders, and keep the way of God. Some- 
times the elders exhort the brethren and sisters to be 
zealous, and labor for the 'gifts and power of God/ In 
these exhortations, the elders manifest great zeal and 
energy themselves. 

"As these exercises continue, the zeal increases, the 
whole company frequently clap their hands in concert. 
Some begin to turn around with great rapidity, some 
leap and shout, throw up their hands, and perform all 
manner of gesticulations, talk in unknown tongues, sing 
in unknown tongues. Sometimes, as to-day, for in- 
stance, two or three times, all join in one concert of 
yelling, screaming, shouting, shaking with all their might, 
thumping their feet upon the floor, with great rapidity, 
altogether presenting a scene and making a noise which 
cannot be described. Should a stranger come in at this 
moment, he must think it a perfect bedlam; and would 
probably be frightened nearly out of his wits. When the 
din is not so great that one cannot be heard, there is 
preaching, prophesying, speaking in unknown tongues, 
and singing songs by special inspiration. All this time 
the young sisters continue their turning so swiftly, that 
the air gathering under their garments, raises them so as 
to expose their red petticoats, and other underclothes, and 
even the fastening of their hose, and sometimes when 
their clothes happen to brush against a sister near them, 
it exposes their person still more. But they must not be 
checked in their gifts, for it is by the inspiration of God, 
that all these things are done. They often fall prostrate 
upon the floor, and all animation seems lost for a season. 
There is frequently with them a crouching and bowing, as 
though affected with a shock of electricity. When one 
ceases turning, she frequently embraces with her arms, 
another sister, and continues crouching and bowing, for 
some time, and seems to have a special gift for that 



THE SHAKERS 113 

sister. One who has had the gift of turning in a high 
degree assured us they did this because they were too 
dizzy to stand up alone. Others who have been gifted, 
have assured me that this is the reason why they fell 
down. They cannot stand for dizziness, and that all their 
skill in turning is acquired by practice. 

"All their meetings are not carried to the same excess 
as the one which I have described above. And never 
have I known them to have a meeting which made any 
comparison with this, when any spectators are present 
from the world; these are sometimes allowed to attend 
our meetings at home in the gathering family. None 
are permitted to attend our meetings at the meeting- 
house, since 1837, when this revival commenced. Some 
who have been there since that time, assure me, that the 
meeting I witnessed to-day, would not begin to compare 
with the meetings they had in the commencement of the 
revival. In the commencement of the revival, many went 
into the turning who were unaccustomed to turning ; con- 
sequently they would frequently fall down, become sick 
and vomit. Some would go out, others run to the spit- 
box; some of the younger portion even bedaubed the 
floor." 

To these accounts, we may add still another descrip- 
tion. It is from Dr. W. A. Hammond's "Spiritualism 
and Allied Causes and Conditions of Nervous Derange- 
ment," * and is an abridgment from an earlier work 2 : 

"There are many among them, who profess to see God, 
Christ, and Mother Ann. They are taken to the spiritual 
world and introduced to good spirits, where they often 
sit at table with the Godhead. At their meetings some 
one called the visionist directs the proceedings. Standing 
at the head of the room, this person, who professes to 

1 Hammond, William A. : "Spiritualism and Allied Causes and Conditions 
of Nervous Derangement." New York, 1876; p. 242. 

2 "Extract from an Unpublished Manuscript on Shaker History by an Eye- 
witness." Boston, 1850. 



114* THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

see God, Christ, or Mother Ann, and to be in communion 
with them, gives his orders to the assembled people. He 
calls on one to step forth and shake. The victim comes 
forward, drops his or her hands to the side and begins 
shaking the whole body and stamping with the feet, while 
the visionist calls out at the top of his voice, 'Shake! 
Shake! Shake! There is a great spirit on you, shake 
him off! shake him off! Christ says, Shake him off!' 
Another then takes up the cry, 'Down ! down ! come down ; 
Christ says come down! Low! low! low!' At which 
every person in the room bends and bows like willows in 
a high wind. Sometimes one of the gifted, will see the 
devil come into the meeting, and like a faithful sentinel 
gives the alarm, when every true believer opens the bat- 
tery at once by drawing the right arm nearly to the chin, 
placing the arm in the position as if to shoot, and then 
straightening the body out with a jerk and a stamp of 
the foot, accompanied by a quick bursting yelp in imita- 
tion of a gun, all being the work of a moment. 'There,' 
says the visionist, 'see him dart; he has gone down to- 
wards the chimney; shoot him! shoot him! kill him!' 
And a rush is made for spiritual weapons given by the 
visionist from the spiritual armory. 

"Sometimes Christ or Mother Ann enters the meeting- 
room, bearing such presents as the band wants. These 
presents are 'spiritual,' and are handed round by Christ 
to the faithful, who receive them as though they were 
real gifts. To* one golden potatoes are given; to another, 
oranges; to others, cake, puddings, jellies, etc., with 
various other things not known to this world. . . . Mother 
Ann superintends her own wine press, and often brings 
wine ('spiritual' again) as a present. The visionist pre- 
tends to take a waiter filled with wine-glasses ; everybody 
must have faith, and take one, as it is handed to them. 
Those who have little or no faith are told by the vision- 
ist whether they have taken theirs. Then they all raise 
their hands to their lips as in the act of drinking, and pres- 



THE SHAKERS 115 

ently they begin to reel and stagger around the room as 
though actually drunk. Indeed, they act in all respects 
as drunken persons, stamping, shaking, vomiting, etc., 
till finally, exhausted, they gradually sink away till all is 
silent. Then, standing in a circle, they throw their 
handkerchiefs over their shoulders, raise their hands to 
their heads, and make six solemn bows, saying with each, 
'I kindly thank Mother for this beautiful gift.' . . . 

"Sometimes young men and women are exercised by 
what they call the 'jerks,' for two weeks at a time, during 
the whole of which period the head is kept in continual 
motion by quick, convulsive motions of the shoulders and 
neck. The author of the little book from which these 
particulars are quoted says she once saw a young woman 
whose face was frightfully swollen, her eyes dilated and 
bloodshot, and who had been exercised by the 'jerks' 
for three weeks. Directly after the 'jerks' she began to 
talk in unknown tongues, and continued at short intervals 
for three or four days; then she stopped suddenly, and 
remained entirely mute for two weeks, no possible per- 
suasion being sufficient to make her say even yes or no. 
This experience is called the 'dumb devils.' " 

The "gifts" were sometimes a very severe tax upon 
both the mind and the "eye of faith." "At a time, word 
was sent that there was a gift to be sent from the church 
to the Shakers in our vicinity. The Elders came, the 
people were gathered and placed in a half -circle — their 
imagination was such that some shed tears for fear, while 
others rejoiced in hope. The great attainment was one 
chestnut to each with Mother's love in it. Again the 
Elders came with another gift; that was, for them all to 
kneel, the Elders at the head. The first elder crowed 
with the flopping of his arms, the rest in union done 
the same." x 

1 Dyer: "Portraiture," p. 224. 



116 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

In Dr. Hammond's book, reference to which has al- 
ready been made, an account is given of the "laughing 
gift": 

"Often some one will feel a 'laughing gift,' and will 
begin with he, he, he; ha, ha, ha; ho, ho, ho. Another 
takes it up, and soon all in the room are engaged in 
boisterous laughter. Once under full 'laughing gift/ 
they will hold on to their sides and reel in their chairs 
until they become exhausted. This gift ends in a song: 

"Ho, ho, ho; he, he, he; 
O what a pretty little path I see; 
Pretty path, pretty play, 
Pretty little angels, 
Hay, hay, hay. 

"The first and last lines are sung with a loud laugh." * 

The gift of tongues was among the first of the charis- 
mata to be claimed by the Shakers. In England, 

"Their exercises in their meetings were singing, danc- 
ing, shouting, shaking, speaking tongues (or speaking 
what no one understood) and prophesying of the down- 
fall of all the anti-Christian churches, and the increase of 
that Kingdom in which they professed to be." 2 

In connection with her prosecution by the authorities 
in Manchester, Mother Ann's ability to speak in other 
languages was put to a severe test by some learned 
scholars : 

"At one time, to secure her conviction and suppression, 
she was accused of blasphemy, and that the question 
might be settled, she was brought before four clergymen 
of the Church of England, all noted linguistic scholars. 
The penalty, if convicted, was to have her tongue bored 

1 Hammond: op. cit., p. 244. 

2 Brown: op. cit., p. 314. 



THE SHAKERS 117 

through with a red-hot iron and to be branded on the 
cheek. The mysterious Presence which in a former 
age, had said to the disciples of Jesus: 'Open thy 
mouth and I will fill it/ did not desert this woman of 
whom it has been said that she could neither read nor 
write. The power of God fell upon her, the gift of 
tongues was imparted and she discoursed to these clergy- 
men, speaking, as they testified, in seventy-two different 
languages, speaking many of them, as they declared, 
better than they had ever heard them spoken before. 
They advised her persecutors to let her alone." 1 

We have noted in the statement made by Mary Hock- 
nell 2 that Mother Ann spoke before the learned doctors 
in twelve different languages. Frequent statements ap- 
pear in the "Testimonies" to the effect that Mother Ann 
was often found singing or praying in an unknown 
tongue. 3 

"Timothy Hubbard was one of the first who visited 
Mother and the Elders at Watervliet. While there, he 
saw Mother sit in her chair from early in the morning, 
until afternoon, under great operations and power of 
God. She sung in unknown tongues the whole of the 
time : and seemed to be wholly divested of any attraction 
to material things. All her sensations appeared to be 
engaged in the spiritual world. 

"After she was released from these operations she 
spoke to the people present and said, 'The way of God 
will grow straiter and straiter ; so strait that if you go one 
hair's breadth out of the way, you will be lost. — I felt 
my soul walking with Christ, in groves and vallies, as 
really as if he had been here on earth. — It is good for a 
man not to touch a woman." 4 

1 White and Taylor: op. cit., pp. 25-6. 

2 Brown : op. cit., p. 46. 

•Cf. "Testimonies": XXVII: 4 (p. 186), 22 (p. 191); XXXIV:i2 (p. 241). 
* "Testimonies": XXIII: 12 (pp. 163-4). 



118 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

"At another time, in the presence of Timothy Hubbard 
and others, Mother was overshadowed with the power 
of God. She stood erect on the floor for the space of 
an hour ; her countenance was angelic and she seemed to 
notice nothing of time. She sang, chiefly in unknown 
tongues, though sometimes she uttered expressions in 
her own language. Among other expressions she made 
the following: 'Thou wilt keep them in perfect peace, 
whose minds are stayed on thee !' When her gift ceased, 
she spoke and said : T saw Jesus Christ, and conversed 
with him, face to face, as a man converseth with his 
friend.' " 1 

This gift of tongues was shared by others in the 
church. Its presence was a mark of special divine favour, 
and signalled out the one who thus spoke as a spiritual 
leader. Hannah Cogswell testifies: 

"While Elder Hocknell had the care of the people at 
Watervliet, in the summer of 1781, while Mother Ann 
was at Harvard, he came into meeting, one evening, un- 
der great operations of the power of God, and, with his 
hand stretched toward the fire, he spake in an unknown 
tongue, seemingly in great wrath. When his gift ceased, 
he said, 'I saw the souls of three men, whom I knew while 
I was in England. They came to hear the word of 
God, but they had not finished their sufferings, and 
therefore were returned again to their suffering state/ 
He also said, 'If you could see the glory of God that 
shines around you as I do, and the angels that minister 
the power of God to you, your hair would rise on your 
heads, and flesh would crawl on your bones.' " 2 

Father William also spoke in tongues : 

"The next day, Eleazar Grant and Elisha Gilberts, 
Esq'rs, and Dr. Averill came there and had a long con- 

1 "Testimonies" : XXXIII:i3 (p. 164). 

3 Same: XXV:i6 (p. 179). 



THE SHAKERS 119 

versation with Mother Ann and the Elders. The day 
following, several Indians came, and Father William 
Lee was moved by the power of God, to speak to them 
in their own native language, although he had no knowl- 
edge of it, but by the gift of God; but the Indians under- 
stood and answered him." * 

The following account appears in Brown's "History of 
the Shakers," of an occurrence at Niskayuna in the fall 
of 1800: 

"On the third day after our arrival, there came an 
elderly man (by name Seth Youngs) from Lebanon, 
who belonged to the backsliding order, whom I had 
heard had the gift of speaking in unknown tongues, or 
in languages he did not understand: in the afternoon he 
spent some time talking to my sister, respecting the 
vanities of this life, the necessity and beauty of religion, 
and the happiness to be derived from it. While he was 
thus speaking, he broke out, with much earnestness, in 
an unknown tongue, and spake about a quarter of an 
hour; which appeared to me astonishing, as I was satis- 
fied from the appearance of the man, and previous con- 
versation, that he was not a man of learning. Therefore 
I believed and received it as an immediate inspiration, 
and concluded it was miraculous, and thought I should 
have been very glad if it could have been taken down in 
writing, that I might have found out what language it 
was, and what he had spoken. It was said to be Greek 
by one of the believers (Seth Wells) who professed to 
understand a little of the learned languages. 

"In the evening we had a meeting of all the young be- 
lievers, and three elders with us, and a number of 
spectators. He then spoke again about half an hour, 
breaking out while one of the Elders was speaking; at 
hearing which I was much affected, really believing it to 

1 "Testimonies": XX:i7 (p. 140). See also White and Taylor: op. cit., pp. 
55-6-7- 



120 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

be immediate inspiration. It was said (by the same per- 
son before mentioned) to be Hebrew, Greek and Latin, 
speaking part of the time one language, and then another. 
After meeting, all the family sitting round the fire, as 
he was talking concerning the happiness of a religious 
life, suddenly his head shook, as if by a severe electric 
shock; he then closed his eyes and sung half an hour, 
in some language said to be Hebrew. As soon as he 
ended, he said, 'this was one of the songs of Zion/ and 
exclaimed, 'how happy a soul feels that has a sense of 
the love of God.' 

"The same evening he spoke a few minutes in some 
Indian tongue, or it appeared such by the gesticulations, 
etc. He told us that, 'he could only speak as he was in- 
spired by the power of God, and then he had no will or 
power to stop; and that it often came upon him unex- 
pected, and unthought of; and that he did not understand 
what he said, except when he had a sense of it given to 
him.' 

"I was informed of an illiterate sister at Lebanon, in 
the same order, that had the gift of interpretation of 
tongues; and that she sometimes could state, or explain 
languages thus spoken : and previously to that time, one 
of the young believers (namely Seth Wells) who pro- 
fessed to understand Latin, informed me, in company 
with several others, that he had heard this same man at 
Lebanon, speak half an hour in Latin, which much 
strengthened his faith, and which he translated into 
English ; and that he had heard him speak in French, a 
Frenchman being present at the same time. He further 
asserted that the forementioned sister, who had the gift 
of the interpretation of tongues being present, inter- 
preted the same." x 

Brown tells us that he himself began to experience 
manifestations of the tongues : 

1 Brown: op. cit., pp. 58-9-60. 



THE SHAKERS 121 

"About this time I began to have operations of shaking, 
trembling and stamping, similar to some of my brethren 
and sisters at Nikeuna; and likewise a gift, as it is 
called, of speaking languages, or unknown tongues. At 
one time I had a gift to sing; but no one understood 
what I sung, nor myself neither. These things I did not 
do as a sham, nor with intentions to make others think 
I was under the influence of divine power; but I really 
and sincerely believed I was influenced by the power 
of God. . . . They told me that some had gifts of mor- 
tification, to bark like a dog, and crow like a cock, make 
a noise like a squirrel, and mew like a cat. 1 

"I was so strong in the faith, that one day as we were 
conversing, concerning extraordinary gifts, I told the 
Elders I believed if I continued faithful, I should be so 
endued with power in speaking languages, I should be 
able to speak and preach to people in the different tongues, 
so that any nation or tribe of Indians could understand 
me." 2 

We are indebted to Brown also for the following ac- 
count of phenomena accompanying the manifestation of 
the tongues: 

"One evening (during 1801) . . . being at a family 
meeting, a certain zealous woman turned all the time the 
others were labouring, and when we kneeled (which we 
generally did at the conclusion of the meeting) she prayed 
about fifteen minutes in an unknown tongue. As soon 
as we arose, she was taken with the operation of turning 
again, and continued it about fifteen minutes. She then 
retired to her room, where she was directly taken with 
the operation again. Being desirous to see everything 
that was going forward, I went into her room and took 
a seat. She continued whirling rapidly about half an 
hour. I thought she would have died under the opera- 

1 Brown : op. cit., p. 82. 

2 Same : p. 89. 



122 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

tion ; for it appeared to me it was more than human na- 
ture could bear. She broke out several times apparently 
in an unknown tongue, and spoke with great energy and 
emphasis, using violent gesticulations, and shaking, to 
appearance, sufficiently to dislocate every bone in her 
body. It was believed she was then thundering the gos- 
pel to disobedient, damned spirits. When the operation 
was over, she sat down. I then immediately entered into 
conversation with her, to see if her mind was not affected; 
but I could perceive no alteration in her. She told me 
what she uttered in prayer was on a sheet of paper held 
before her by an angel. The man of the house told me 
that a few evenings before while they were labouring, 
she spake and said, 'she saw an angel labouring by the 
side of him/ and he believed it." * 

Brown makes also the following comments upon the 
tongues : 

"Respecting such as speak in an unknown tongue, they 
have strong faith in this gift; and think a person greatly 
favoured who has the gift of tongues; and at certain 
times, when the mind is overloaded with a fiery, strong 
zeal, it must have vent some way or other; their faith, 
or belief, at the time being in this gift, and a will strikes 
the mind according to their faith; and then such break 
out in a fiery, energetick manner, and speak they know 
not what, as I have done several times. Part of what 
I spoke at one time, was : — Liero, devo jurankemango, and 
fileabano, durem fubramo, deviranto diacerimango, jaffe 
vah pe cri evanigalio, de vom grom feb crenom, os vare 
cremo domo." 2 

A contemporary of Mother Ann describes Shaker wor- 
ship and comments upon the tongues as follows : 

1 Brown: op. cit., pp. 152-3. 
3 Same: p. 297. 



THE SHAKERS 123 

"For there is a perpetual scene of trembling, quivering, 
shaking, sighing, crying, groaning, screaming, jumping, 
singing, dancing and turning, which strikes the animal 
part, operating on the nerves of the greatest opposers, 
in following which the adherent finds an easy transition 
from pain with them to go into their several exercises, 
to mourn and rejoice with them, to kneel, to leap and 
dance, to turn and shake, and sometimes to utter forth 
their unknown mutter, so gibberish that a person not 
deluded would imagine they were a company of mad- 
men, by whom their passions in different colours are 
artfully displayed; this they call the gift of new tongues, 
by which their opposers oftentimes find themselves se- 
verely scolded at, sometimes mocked, entreated, or flat- 
tered, according to the operation of their several hu- 
mours, frequently gathering round some one of their own 
company who is not quite obedient enough for them, like 
spiteful birds in fighting, and peck upon him in their un- 
known mutter, as if they would pick his flesh from 
him." * 

Another contemporary account is quoted by Mary 
Dyer: 

"When I was in the region about Harvard, an aged 
man told me he had seen Ann Lee, and that when she 
was in that place she made terrible havoc among families. 
He said she seemed to have a power like witchcraft. He 
told of a case of one Eleazar Rand and showed me the 
house where Rand's folks lived, and said, 'Here lived 
that young man, and he was called as likely as any 
among us. Rand said, if others would go with him, 
they would take Ann and put her where she would make 
no more trouble. 

"They went to the place where Ann was, and Rand 
said to a Shaker that they wished to see the Mother. The 
Shaker went into another room, returned, and said, she 

1 Taylor, Amos: "Narratives of the Shakers." Worcester, Mass., 1782. 



124 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

will come in soon. She came, stood in the door, and 
fastened her eyes on Eleazar, then stepped forward, 
singing, 

'Wi, o o o, wi, o urn, wi o, o o>, wi o um, 

Bamb bam, be iddle le dang, 

Dang doodle ink e dong, doodle ink e dong.' 

"She repeated this sing-song, walking moderately 
around Eleazar, until he lost all presence of mind, got up 
and followed her. Those who went with him were as- 
tonished, and told how she crazed Eleazar." * 

Lamson tells us that in connection with the administra- 
tion of a "gift" called the "gift of the Father and Son," 
a preparatory form of worship was prescribed in detail 
in accordance with a special revelation. "The most im- 
portant of the directions," he writes, 

"were, that we should kneel every time we assembled for 
worship. Should sing no worded songs. That is, simply 
sing the tune without words, using instead of words 
something like the following : lo lo< lo liddle diddle dum, 
te hoot te hoot te diddle te hoot, etc." 2 

Lamson also writes: 

"It is worthy of notice here that although the Shakers 
profess to speak in their inspirations all the languages 
that were ever spoken on earth, yet in sending out their 
gospel to the world, it was given to all the different na- 
tions in our own language. Except as the English is 
here and there interspersed with what is called 'unknown' 
language. And indeed it is unknown, for I presume no 
linguist on earth could find any meaning to it. Their 
unknown languages, which are spoken at their meetings 
generally by their inspired ones, are indeed Unknown; 

1 "Rise and Progress," p. 259. 
8 Op. cit., p. 98. 



THE SHAKERS 125 

not being known even to the speaker of them. They are 
the veriest gibberish which has no meaning." * 

Betsey Looge of Loudon, New Hampshire, deposes 
and says inter alia: 

"The Shakers had a strange power and that which I 
could not resist while with them. At times in their meet- 
ings, I had strange exercises, and from the impulse of 
Shakerism, I often whirled, and at times in agitation ut- 
tered inarticulate sounds, which I understood not; the 
elders said they understood it, and pretended to tell what 
it was. This they called speaking in other tongues. I 
consider it the same power affecting the nerves of my hand 
and tongue, as at other times caused me to whirl or fall. 
If I resisted, I was followed with convulsive affects." 2 

Eunice Chapman in her Narrative also deposes: 

"In the evening the different families came in to at- 
tend a general meeting ; I was ordered out of their house, 
but did not obey; my children were dragged out of 
the room where I was, and compelled to stay alone ; and 
while I endured fearful forebodings, I was surprisingly 
alarmed at the astonishing noise and confusion. They 
sung, talked and jumped about the floor, and pronounced 
'jub, jub, jub, lobble, lobble, lobble, lobble, etc.' Hannah 
told me that some had a gift to speak in an unknown 
tongue.' ' 3 

A Dr. Dwight was detained among the Shakers by a 
severe storm in 1783. "In their worship," he says, "these 
people sang in what they called an 'unknown tongue.' It 
was a succession of unmeaning sounds frequently re- 
peated, half articulated, and plainly gotten by heart, for 
they all uttered the same sounds in succession. . . . They 

1 Op. cit., p. 113. 

2 Dyer: "Portraiture," p. 196. 
8 Same: p. 236. 



126 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

practiced many contortions of the body and distortions 
of the countenance. The gesticulations of the women 
were violent, and had been practiced so often and to 
such a degree as to have fixed their eyes in an unnatural 
position ; made them goggle-eyed, suffused their eyes with 
blood, covered their faces with sickly paleness, and made 
them appear like persons just escaped or rather, just 
escaping, from a violent disease. The motions of the 
men were very moderate, and seemed rather to be con- 
descendingly than earnestly made.' , 

Dr. Blunt, 1 in the same article in which he quotes 
"D wight's Travells," cites the authority of another vis- 
itor among the Shakers who describes the Shaker exer- 
cises as follows: 

"The men and women, all clad in grey cloth and wear- 
ing list slippers, occupied distinct positions in the place 
of meeting. A short extemporaneous address was de- 
livered by an Elder of the party, who reminded his audi- 
tory of the mercies they had all experienced during the 
past week, and bade them therefore unite with him in 
'cheerful expressions of gratitude to their heavenly Bene- 
factor.* Upon the conclusion of this brief exhortation, 
twelve of the company arranged themselves in two lines, 
back to back, in the centre of the apartment; the rest 
of the congregation stood up in couples around them, the 
men forming one segment of the circle, the women the 
other. Thereupon those in the middle commenced sing- 
ing in a loud voice some doggerel verses to a very lively 
tune : 

" 'I love to dance and love to sing, 
And, oh ! I love my Maker : 
I love to dance and love to sing, 
And love to be a Shaker/ Etc. 

1 Op. cit., supra, pp. 558-9. The second quotation is given as from "Notes 
and Queries," 2nd Series, XII:366. 



THE SHAKERS 127 

"The several couples, perpetually smiling or giggling 
at each other, and flapping their hands in mid-air, ac- 
companied this strange kind of psalmody by a quick, but 
monotonous shuffling of their feet, being an apology for 
a dance. This grotesque scene was prolonged for an 
hour and a half." 

Frequent mention has been made of the "wordless" 
songs of the Shakers. Apparently these were tunes that 
were hummed, or songs of praise and worship in the 
tongues. Some of the hymns used were entirely in Eng- 
lish, some in the tongues, and some in both English and 
the tongues. The following is a specimen in both Eng- 
lish and the tongues, the lines alternating: 

"O we will praise our Maker, yes, we even will, 
Ki lo vin sa vo van vos onena vil, 
Care van se neve cara van sa ve, 
I le vin se vo san vos onena va." 1 

The second stanza is entirely in the tongues: 

"I lo le viteca vum vole os ca nere von, 
I lo le viteca vum se ra os ca nere von, 
I le viteca vole vum se ra ca os ca nere von, 
I le viteca vole vum se ra os ca nana." 

The song called "Vicalun's Prayer" is another inter- 
esting specimen of the gift of tongues. Vicalun was be- 
lieved to have been the angel of repentance. "Vicalun's 
Prayer" is as follows : 

"Hark ! hark ! my holy, holy, 
Vicalun seelen sor, 
I have come to mourn 
And weep with you 
In low humiliation ; 
Pray to the Silium sool, 
Whose hand can stay the billows. 
And san si rulum sool." 

1 Lamson: op, cit., p. 79. 



128 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

"Vicalun's Prayer," the song just quoted, "has a variety 
of changes, accompanied by the following motions: At 
the first line the head is inclined forward, with the fore- 
finger pointing to the right ear, as in the act of listening. 
At the third line the hands are brought forward with an 
earnest beckoning motion. At the fourth line the hands 
are carried to the eyes as in the act of weeping, the body 
gradually bending till it sinks on the knees and the face 
touches the floor at the close of the fifth line. At the 
,commencement of the sixth line both hands are brought 
up to the side of the head as in prayer ; at the seventh the 
right hand is thrown convulsively upward; at the word 
"Vicalun" both hands are extended wide. At the last 
line, and at the last word, they are clasped over the 
heart. The last four lines are repeated twice ; appropriate 
motions accompany all songs sung by them." * 

1 Hammond: op. cit., p. 245. 



CHAPTER VI 

REV. EDWARD IRVING AND THE CATHOLIC APOSTOLIC 
CHURCH OR IRVINGITES 

One of the most pathetic and tragic figures among all 
the tongues people is that of Edward Irving. Irving 
was a minister of the Church of Scotland and, as minister 
of the Caledonian Church in London, at one time the 
most popular preacher in that city. His birthplace was 
at Annan, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, where his statue now 
stands. He was bom on August 4, 1792, of parents who 
were of the better-to-do sort of Scotch people. His 
father was a tanner. Irving received his higher education 
from Edinburgh University, which institution in 1809 
awarded him the degree of Master of Arts. After teach- 
ing school for a time and pursuing during that period his 
studies in Divinity, he became assistant to the then re- 
nowned Dr. Thomas Chalmers of Glasgow. In 1822 he 
was called to be the minister of the Caledonian Church 
in Hatton Garden, London. This was a considerable 
promotion for Irving, although the church numbered 
less than three hundred members. These were Scotch 
people resident in London. Irving had not long been 
there before he was the center of the religious public's 
attention. By chance a prominent member of the House 
of Commons had heard him preach, and referred in glow- 
ing terms a few days later, in the course of parliamentary 
debate, to the young preacher. Irving needed only this 
introduction; crowds went to hear him, crowds of the 
most fashionable people in London — and in those crowds 

129 



130 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

were included the greater part of the notables of that 
day. It became the fashion to hear Irving preach. 

In the course of time Irving became interested in the 
study of prophecy, and became convinced of the immi- 
nent nature of our Lord's return. Finally he came under 
the influence of a group of people who professed to pro- 
phesy and to speak with other tongues, and the new 
church which Irving's congregation had been obliged to 
build to take care of the great multitude which came to 
listen to his preaching was crowded no longer with the 
elite and the fashionable, but with the curiosity-seekers 
and religious cranks of the day. The "gifted" and the 
prophetic stood up in Irving's church and publicly rebuked 
him, and prophesied and contradicted each other until 
finally Irving was deposed on a charge of heresy by his 
presbytery and excluded from his church. 

Irving and a band of his followers then held services 
in a room in Gray's Inn Road, used on other occasions 
by Robert Owen. Later they moved to Newman Street. 
In time a new church was organised by the prophets which 
they called "The Catholic Apostolic Church." In the 
meantime the only great man in the movement, Irving, 
was gradually stripped of his powers, and the real lead- 
ership of the movement passed into the hands of a group 
of men of very ordinary ability, but of very positive con- 
victions. Irving died of tuberculosis on December 8th, 
1834, in the forty-third year of his age. 

Thomas Carlyle had known Irving as a young man, and 
had kept up a more or less close touch with him all 
through his London residence. In fact, Mrs. Carlyle, 
according to common tradition, had been an old sweet- 
heart of Irving's. Thomas Hitchcock, in his little book, 
"Unhappy Loves of Men of Genius," * makes the, love of 

1 Hitchcock, Thomas: "Unhappy Loves of Men of Genius." New Vork, 1891. 



THE IRVINGITES 131 

Irving for Jane Welsh Carlyle the subject of one of his 
essays. At any rate, Mrs. Carlyle had been as a young 
girl one of Irving' s pupils, and he had found her both 
interesting and attractive. Carlyle himself is unstinted 
in his praise of Irving. Thus he writes, in his essay on 
the "Death of Edward Irving" : 

"Here once more was a genuine man sent into this 
our ^genuine phantasmagory of a world, which would 
go to ruin without such; that here once more, under thy 
own eyes, in this last decade, was enacted the old Tragedy, 
and has had its fifth act now, of The Messenger of Truth 
in the Age of Shorns" * 

And again in the same essay : 

. . . "He was so loving, full of hope, so simple-hearted, 
and made all that approached him his. . . . But above 
all, be what he might, to be a reality was indispensable 
for him." 2 

Carlyle, with all his bombast and pessimism, not only 
loved, but understood Irving. Be what he might, to be 
a reality was indispensable for Irving. He was a reality. 
What he preached he lived. What he expressed as the 
great motive of a life was the motive of his life — "the 
ends of everlasting goodness" : 

"The most acceptable offering which we can present 
unto God, the author and preserver of our being, and 
the most grateful return which we can make to the 
world in which we have passed our days, is to live a 
life directed according to our best perceptions of truth 
and devoted to the ends of everlasting goodness." 3 

1 Carlyle, Thomas : "Death of Edward Irving," in "Crtiical and Miscellaneous 
Essays," Vol. II, p. 223. 

2 Same: p. 22$. 

3 Irving, Rev. Edward, M.A. : Introduction to the "Life of Bernard Gilpin," 
by William Gilpin, M.A. Glasgow, 1830; p. 5. 



132 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

James Bridges, Esq., at whose home Irving stayed 
while attending the General Assembly at Edinburgh in 
1828, wrote of him: 

"Before his decay, it will be well remembered by all 
who knew him, with what gravity, spirituality, and ortho- 
dox earnestness he preached; with what benevolent as- 
siduity he laboured; what gentle and amiable simplicity 
and kindness marked his deportment in private life ; what 
solid, brilliant, and flowing variety, in all the shades of 
grave and gay, ever characterised his conversation." x 

Nor are these words in reference to Irving out of place : 

"The poet Procter (Barry Cornwall), who saw much 
of him in London, pronounced him 'the most pure and 
hopeful spirit surely that Scotland has ever produced/ 
and wrote of him 

" 'If his manner had not been so unassuming I might 
have felt humble before him. But he was so amiable 
and simple that we all forgot that we stood in the pres- 
ence of a giant in stature, with mental courage to do 
battle with any adversary, and who was always ready to 
enter into any conflict on behalf of his own peculiar faith. 
... I never heard him utter a harsh or uncharitable 
word. I never heard from him a word or a sentiment 
which a good man could have wished unsaid. His words 
were at once gentle and heroic. No one who knew him 
intimately could help loving him.' " 2 

Truly he was "the good Irving: so guileless, loyal 
always, and so hoping and so generous." 3 

The words of criticism and of unkindness that have 
been spoken against Edward Irving are words that are 

1 Bridges, James: Prefatory Notice to "Irvingism and Mormonism Tested by 
Scripture," by Emilius Guers. London, 1854. 

2 Hitchcock, Thomas: op. cit., pp. 192, 193. 

3 Carlyle, Thomas: "Reminiscences," Edited by James Anthony Froude. New 
York, 1881; p. 351. 



THE IRVINGITES 133 

spoken only by ignorant and in many cases more or less 
jealous contemporaries. Those who criticised him have 
long been forgotten. Those who love him are all those 
who study faithfully his life and character. There are 
various ways of interpreting Irving, and particularly of 
explaining the collapse of his latter days, but there is 
only one explanation possible, only one explanation satis- 
factory, and that explanation is the simple but tragic 
one of a lack of common sense. Simple as this explana- 
tion is, it is the explanation of the tragedy of many of 
those who in earnestness and sincerity have, nevertheless, 
concerning faith, made shipwreck. Reason, and particu- 
larly the analytic processes of reasoning, need to be ap- 
plied searchingly to those things alleged to be spiritual, 
as well as to that class of things which we denominate 
natural. 

The familiar and practical criticism of Irving is on 
the ground of his undue sense of his personal importance. 
It was his gigantic conceit which, more than anything else 
led to his downfall. Such a conviction led Dr. Meade C. 
Williams to explain the tragic closing years of Irving' s 
life as 

"partly from conceit and an overweening sense of his 
own sufficiency which made him impervious to criticism 
and proof against every friendly suggestion, and partly 
from the ineradicable conviction that the whole Church 
had but an obscure sense of the truth. . . . 

"He was a good man, but marked by grievous infirmi- 
ties. In public ministrations he seemed utterly without 
prudence or practical wisdom." * 

Who, however, is going to draw the line and tell us 
what is conceit and what is humility when a man is a 

1 Williams, Meade C. Article: "Edward Irving," in the Princeton Theo- 
logical Review, Vol. I, p. 7. 



134 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

mystic ? Being conscious of an immediate revelation from 
God, and being therefore incapable of error, is a heresy 
for which many a man in good and regular standing re- 
mains as yet to be tried in our church courts. When a 
man rings true, when he is so generous that he suffers 
wrong for that generosity, when he seems persistently to 
seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, 
then certainly we must look for some explanation other 
than that of a lack of fundamental humility to explain 
his failures. But even Carlyle felt that Irving's difficul- 
ties were the product in part — an unconscious part — of 
the applause which had turned the preacher's head : 

"Unconsciously, for most part in deep unconscious- 
ness, there was now the impossibility to live neglected; 
to walk on the quiet paths, where alone it is well with us. 
Singularity must henceforth succeed Singularity. O 
foulest Circean draught, thou poison of Popular Ap- 
plause ! madness is in thee, and death ; thy end is Bedlam 
and the Grave." * 

In his "Reminiscences," however, it seems as though 
Carlyle comes a little nearer to the real analysis of the 
situation. Irving had lost his sense of proportion, his 
consciousness of the ultimate relation of things, because 
of his eagerness for the spread of the Christian religion. 
Perhaps he never had a sense of proportion. 

"At sight of Canning, Brougham, Lady Jersey and 
Co., crowding round him and listening week after week 
as if to the message of salvation, the noblest and joyfullest 
thought (I know this on perfect authority) had taken 
possession of his noble, too sanguine, and too trustful 
mind: 'that the Christian religion was to be a truth 

1 Carlyle, Thomas: "Death of Edward Irving," cit. supra, p. 224. 



THE IRVINGITES 135 

again, not a paltry form, and to rule the world, he un- 
worthy even he, the chosen instrument. ' " * 

Dr. Simpson suggests 2 that a great lack in Irving's 
mental nature was the lack of a sense of humour. Yet 
Irving was neither an ascetic nor a pessimist. He knew 
the pleasure of life. He knew and practised the art of 
friendship; he could mingle with people and be happy. 

Carlyle speaks frequently of the preacher's joy in life. 
At the time when they were both teaching at Kirkcaldy, 
Carlyle says: 

"He had a most hearty, if not very refined sense of the 
ludicrous ; a broad genial laugh in him always ready. His 
wide, just sympathies, his native sagacities, honest- 
heartedness, and good humour, made him the most de- 
lightful of companions." 3 

If, however, humour be the faculty of appreciating the 
unexpected, Irving had a lack of humour. For him noth- 
ing was unexpected. "To him that believeth all things 
are possible" was no empty phrase with Irving. Any- 
thing in the realm of the supernatural, whether it was 
of any value or not, was for Irving not only possible 
but imminent. 

He was so anxious for the supernatural that he refused 
to go to school in the natural. His utter want of common 
sense, the sense of the fitness of things, is illustrated in 
a host of anecdotes told about him. There is none more 
characteristic than the story which James Bridges tells 
in the following words : 

1 Simpson, J. G. Article: "Irving and the Catholic Apostolic Church." 
"Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics," Edited by James Hastings. New York, 
1915, Vol. VII, p. 426. 

2 Carlyle, Thomas: "Reminiscences," p. 186. 

3 Same, p. 82. See also Story, Robert Herbert: "Memoirs of the Life o£ 
the Rev. Robert Story, Late Minister of Rosneath, Dumbartonshire." London, 
1862; p. 60. 



136 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

"Another characteristic trait. Walking by Whitehall 
one day, I met him arm in arm with the late Dr. Gordon 
of the High Church of Edinburg. 'Oh, Mr. Bridges/ 
said he, 'Dr. Gordon wishes to drink London porter in a 
London pot-house. Shew us one/ So we went to' the 
York in Prince's Street, Soho, where the public room 
was crowded with dining parties in all the boxes. When 
our repast was ready, Irving raised his arm perpendicu- 
larly over his head, and in that attitude commenced a 
loud blessing. The clatter of knives, and corks and 
forks, and the bustle of waiters, competed with him for 
a time, but gradually subsided, till amidst deep silence, 
he made the assembled company hear in his prayer not 
a few things strange to chop-house ears." 1 

And Rev. Mr. Craig of Edinburgh tells of another 
similar incident: 

"A certain gentleman invited a party of Christian 
friends to his house. In the course of the evening, before 
separating, a late supper was served. Some of the guests 
had three miles to walk after the meal. But before sit- 
ting down Irving was requested by the host to read the 
Bible and expound a little. He began, and continued to 
discourse on and on. At last the clock struck twelve, and 
then the host very gently suggested it might be desirable 
to draw to a close. 'Who art thou,' replied Irving, 'who 
darest to interrupt the man of God in the midst of his 
administration?' He pursued his talk for some time 
longer, then closed the .book, and waving his long arm 
over the head of his host, uttered a prayer that the 
brother's offence might be forgiven." 2 

Perhaps what Irving needed was some one to tell him 
that he did not have common sense. Perhaps Jane 

"Bridges: op. cit., pp. io-ii (footnote). 

2 Hanna, William: "Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Thomas Chalmers, 
D.D., LL.D." Edinburgh and London, 185 1. Vol. IIL p. 276. See also Oli- 
phant, Margaret W. : "The Life of Edward Irving, Minister of the National 
Scotch Church, London." New York, 1862; p. 97. 



THE IRVINGITES 137 

Welsh Carlyle was right when she said, "There would 
have been no 'tongues' had Irving married me!" * 

Dr. Chalmers' phrase, "a prodigious want of tact" may 
be a phrase about as suggestive of Irving' s limitations 
and eccentricities as well may be found. Dr. Chalmers 
went down to London in the spring of 1827 to preach the 
sermon in connection with the opening of Irving's new 
church. This is what we find in Dr. Chalmers' Diary 
under date of May 11, 1827, in connection with the 
services on that occasion : 

"Friday — Mr. Irving conducted the preliminary serv- 
ice in the National Church. There was a prodigious 
want of tact in the length of his prayer, forty minutes, 
and altogether it was an hour and a half from the com- 
mencement of the service ere I began." 2 

One of Irving's most characteristic public addresses 
was made to the London Missionary Society. This was 
an address in which he told the members of the Society 
that their methods of procedure were utterly useless, and 
that the missionaries ought to be sent out as they were 
in the days of the Apostles, without any provision for 
their temporal needs. It took him over two hours and a 
half to deliver the address, and he dedicated it to Samuel 
Taylor Coleridge. But let Charles Lamb tell the story: 

"I have got acquainted with Mr. Irving, the Scotch 
preacher, whose fame must have reached you. He is a 
humble disciple at the feet of Gamaliel S.T.C. Judge 
how his own sectarists must start when I tell you he 
had dedicated a book to S.T.C, acknowledging to have 
learned more of the nature of Faith, Christianity and 
the Christian Church from him than from all the men 
he ever conversed with. He is a most amiable, sincere, 



1 Quoted by Hitchcock: op. cit., p. 211. 
•Hanna: op. cit., Vol. Ill, p. 160. 



138 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

modest man in a room, this Boanerges in the temple. 
Mrs. Montague told him the dedication would do him 
no good. 'That shall be a reason for doing it,' was his 
answer. Judge now whether this man be a quack." l 

Dr. Chalmers tells of a visit to Coleridge in company 
with Irving. This was the day before the dedication of 
the National Scotch Church. 

"Thursday. — Irving and I went to Bedford Square. 
Mr. and Mrs. Montague took us out in their carriage to 
Highgate, where we spent three hours with the great 
Coleridge. . . . His conversation, which flowed in a 
mighty unremitting stream, is most astonishing, but 
I must confess, to me still unintelligible. I caught 
occasional glimpses of what he would be at, but mainly 
he was very far out of all sight and all sympathy. I 
hold it, however, a great acquisition to have become ac- 
quainted with him. You know that Irving sits at his 
feet, and drinks in the inspiration of every syllable that 
falls from him. There is a secret and to me as yet unin- 
telligible communion of spirit betwixt them, on the ground 
of a certain German mysticism and transcendental lake 
poetry which I am not up to. Gordon 2 says it is all un- 
intelligible nonsense, and I am sure a plain Fife man, 
as Uncle 'Tammas,' had he been alive, would have pro- 
nounced it the greatest heff he had ever heard in his 
life." 3 

Hanna, Chalmers* son-in-law and biographer, adds in a 
footnote to the above: 

"Returning from this interview, Dr. Chalmers re- 
marked to Mr. Irving upon the obscurity of Mr. Cole- 
ridge's utterances, and said, that for his part he liked to 

1 "Correspondence of Leigh Hunt," Edited by his eldest son. London, 1862. 
Vol. I, p. 250. 

'The Rev. Dr. Gordon of Edinburgh. 
8 Hanna: op. cit., Vol. Ill, p. 160. 



THE IRVINGITES 139 

see all sides of an idea before taking up with it. 'Ha!' 
said Mr. Irving in reply, 'you Scotchmen would handle 
an idea as a butcher handles an ox. For my part I love 
to see an idea looming through the mist/ " 

Irving's subsequent theological troubles with the Pres- 
bytery were not in toto matters of theology. They were 
in part, as matters of heresy almost always are, a mat- 
ter of personality. Irving was not merely unsound; ho 
was a greater, braver man than many of those who were 
most extraordinarily and painfully sound. He did not 
hesitate to do his own thinking without consulting any 
one as to the acceptability of his thinking. He even went 
so far as to intimate that one element which hindered the 
spread of the gospel was the manner in which the gospel 
has been presented. Thus we find him writing in the 
preface to his first published book : 

"It hath appeared to the Author of this book, from 
more than ten years' meditation on the subject, that the 
chief obstacle to the progress of divine truth over the 
minds of men is the want of its being properly presented 
to them." 1 

Carlyle pretty clearly understood the theological Scot- 
land of his day when he wrote : 

"Theological Scotland above all things is dubious and 
jealous of originality, and Irving's tendency to take a 
road of his own was becoming daily more indisputable." 2 

Even Irving's critics were willing to pay him a de- 
served tribute as a preacher. William Orme, who printed 
"An Expostulary Letter to the Rev. Edward Irving, 

1 Irving, Edward : "For the Oracles of God. Four Orations. For Judgment 
to Come. An Oration." 

2 Carlyle, Thomas: "Reminiscences," p. 150. 



IfO THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

A.M., Occasioned by his Orations for Missionaries after 
the Apostolical School," wrote : 

"When I reflect on your powers of declamation — on 
the extraordinary energy by which you are distinguished 
— on the oracular tone in which you intimate your senti- 
ments, — on the anathemas with which you denounce those 
who cannot sympathize with many of your views, — and 
on the defiance which you hurl at the spirit of this feeble, 
prudent, selfish, vain-glorious generation, — I frankly own 
that I feel little inclination to approach within the sweep 
of your arm, or the frown of your indignation." 1 

There were of course different opinions as to Irving's 
ability as a preacher ; the one that he was a great preacher 
and orator — a judgment in reference to Irving's ability 
which was somewhere near the correct opinion — and the 
other, which was the opinion of unsympathetic minds 
which dismissed Irving at once from consideration be- 
cause of his eccentricities, that Irving was a sort of 
mountebank and spiritual actor. To this class of opinions 
belongs that of J. G. Lockhart expressed in a letter written 
during the year 1824 to Professor John Wilson: 

"Irving, you may depend upon it, is a pure humbug. He 
has about three good attitudes, and the lower notes of 
his voice are superb, with a fine manly tremulation that 
sets women mad as the roar of a noble bull does a field 
of kine; but beyond this he is nothing, really nothing. 
He has no sort of real earnestness; feeble, pumped up, 
boisterous, overlaid stuff is his stable." 2 

For the good folks of Dr. Chalmers' congregation in 
Glasgow Irving had "ower muckle gran'ner," 3 a fact 

1 Orme, William: "An Expostulatory Letter to the Rev. Edward Irving, A.M., 
Occasioned by his Orations for Missionaries after the Apostolical School." 
London, 1825; p. 2. 

2 Gordon, Mary Wilson (Mrs. J. T.): "'Christopher North,' A Memoir of 
John Wilson." Edinburgh, 1862. Vol. II, p. 71. 

3 Oliphant: op. cit., p. 60. 



THE IRVINGITES 141 

which was undoubtedly true. They were accustomed to 
Dr. Chalmers, a Scotch analyst, and Irving was the other 
type of Scot, the Scotch mystic. 

According to Carlyle, "Irving's discourses were far 
more opulent in ingenious thought than Chalmers', which 
indeed were usually the triumphant on-rush of one idea 
with its satellites and supporters. But Irving's wanted 
in definite head and backbone, so that on arriving you 
might see clearly when and how." 1 A visitor who heard 
Irving speak in Edinburgh when he was delivering a 
series of lectures at St. Andrew's Church, lectures which 
were delivered at six o'clock in the morning to crowded 
houses, and which dealt in general with the subject of 
the Second Advent, is quoted as saying that 

"On the previous Sabbath I listened for nearly two 
hours and a half to what he (Mr. Irving) termed an 
explanation, without being able to understand it." 2 

While it is very true that an explanation requires not 
only an explainer, but also one capable of understanding 
the explanation, it is not to be doubted but that for the 
most part of us, Irving's explanations would signally 
fail to explain. 

Many took exception to Irving's most trivial manner- 
isms. "A writer in the Saturday Evening Post, Edin- 
burgh, for example, states that 'Irving's gesticulation, it 
seems, is studiously varied,' and the several parts of his 
manner 'may be valuable requisites and auxiliaries of 
oratory, but are quite incongruous with the dignity and 
sanctity of the pulpit." 3 

1 Carlyle, Thomas: "Reminiscences," p. 128, vide infra. 

2 "Reply to Various Criticisms Which Have Appeared on the Course of Lec- 
tures Lately Delivered in this City by the Rev. Edward Irving, together with 
a Statement and Defence of the Scripture Doctrine of the Second Advent of 
Christ." Edinburgh, 1828: p. 8. For another estimate of Irving as a preacher, 
see Hazlitt, William: "The Spirit of the Age, or Contemporary Portraits." 
First American Edition, New York, 1849. Article on Rev. Mr. Irving. 

3 "Reply to Various Criticisms": cit. supra, p. 13. 



142 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

Washington Wilks writes: 

" 'The Times' fell upon the pulpit celebrity in its ca- 
pacity of general guardian of the public taste. There ap- 
peared, one July morning, an article commencing — There 
is a fashion in everything — in wigs and bonnets, in poetry 
and novel writing; and lastly, in actors and preachers; 
and while things go on in the ordinary way — while wigs 
do not accumulate their curls into periwigs, nor bonnets 
swell into coal scuttles — while our popular poets scribble 
only one poem, and our popular romancers only two 
novels a year — while our actors are content with one new 
reading in a play of Shakespeare, and our preachers aim 
at no praises beyond those of the regular frequenters of_ 
fashionable chapels — we are disposed to let things pass, 
and allow the candid and enlightened public to> have their 
own way. But the case is different with Mr. Irving. 
His popularity absolutely frightens us 'from our pro- 
priety.' We learn that statesmen and quack doctors, old 
ladies and judges, young ladies and students of law, all 
flock with eagerness to hear the Caledonian orator. We 
become somewhat anxious to know what are the attrac- 
tions to collect together such an heterogeneous mass ; and, 
after a serious consideration, we profess ourselves un- 
able to discover. After hearing hiim and after reading 
what he has written, we are, in our own minds, fully 
convinced that he is a man of very ordinary talents ; that 
his understanding is weak in its grasp, and limited in its 
observation ; and that his taste is of the very lowest order 
of badly instructed school-boys. He is an imitator of 
Dr. Chalmers, but no more like his prototype than the 
inflated frog in the fable was like the bull whom he 
strove to resemble; for the energy of thought of his origi- 
nal, he gives us nothing but rumbling and distorted com- 
mon-places; for the impressive and impassioned diction 
of his master, he has nothing but antitheses without point, 
and epithets without distinctness; while the poor and 



THE IRVINGITES 143 

insignificant idea, wrapped up in a heap of tinsel and 
clumsy phraseology, looks like 'the lady in a lobster, or 
a mouse under a canopy of state/ . . . We feel ashamed 
and begin to distrust our own judgment, when wet see 
that we have one idea in common with such a turgid and 
shallow deelaimer. . . . Surely, surely it cannot be long 
before this bubble bursts !" * 

On one occasion the London Times took the liberty to 
conduct a trial of Edward Irving before the "Court of 
Common Sense." The counts of indictment, says Mrs. 
Oliphant, were as follows : 

"First, For being ugly. 

"Second, For being a Merry-Andrew. 

"Third, For being a common quack. 

"Fourth, For being a common brawler. 

"Fifth, For being a common swearer. 

"Sixth, For being of very common understanding. 

"And Seventh, For following divisive courses, sub- 
versive of the discipline of the order to which he belongs, 
and contrary to the principles of Christian fellowship and 
charity. 

"It will gratify our readers to know that Irving was not 
found guilty of ugliness nor of any of the charges 
brought against him, except the last; and that one of his 
principal assailants, the Times itself, the Thunderer of the 
day, was convicted by its own confession of having con- 
demned Sir Walter Scott as "a writer of no. imagination," 
and Lord Byron as "destitute of all poetical talent." 2 

In spite, however, of all the thundering of the London 
Times, and in spite of all the criticisms of small-minded 
critics, Irving was able to attract and to retain friends 
and admirers. For example, in Fraser's Magazine for 

1 Wilks, Washington: "Edward Irving. An Ecclesiastical and Literary Bi- 
ography." London, 1854; p. 144. 
x Oliphant: op. cit., p. 129. 



144 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

May, 183 1, appeared an article, "The Rev. Edward Ir- 
ving and his Adversaries," in which Irving is mentioned 
in terms of the highest praise. The article deals with Ir- 
ving's Christological heresy and his trial before the Pres- 
bytery. It begins: 

"It is now nine or ten years since the Reverend Ed- 
ward Irving first attracted that extraordinary attention 
in this country, as a pulpit orator, which has since fixed 
the eyes equally of admirers and opponents, upon him and 
his doings as a public character, and as public acts." * 

A statement from the pen of Coleridge in reference to 
Irving is also given in the course of the article : 

"That he (Edward Irving) possesses my unqualified 
esteem as a man, is only saying, that I know him, and 
am neither blinded by envy nor bigotry. ... I have no 
faith in his prophesyings, small sympathy with his ful- 
minations. . . . But I hold withal . . . that Edward Ir- 
ving possesses more of the spirit and purposes of the 
first Reformers, that he has more of the head, the life, 
the unction, and the genial power of Martin Luther, than 
any other man now alive ; yea, than any man of this and 
the last century. I see in Edward Irving, a minister of 
Christ after the order of Paul." 2 

Preacher or no preacher, orator or no orator, Irving 
had the undoubted ability to stir his hearers, and to stir 
them to action. 

"Once in Kirkcaldy Kirk, which was well filled and 
all dead silent under living's grand voice, the door of a 
pew a good way in front of me (ground floor — right- 
hand as you fronted the preacher), banged suddenly 
open, and there bolted out of it a middle-aged or elderly 

1 Fraser's Magazine, May, 1831, Vol. Ill, No. XVI, p. 423 e* seq. 

2 Same: p. 423. 



THE IRVINGITES 145 

little man (an insignificant baker by position) who with 
long swift strides, and face and big eyes all in wrath, 
came tramping and sounding along the flags close past 
my right hand, and vanished out of doors with a slam; 
Irving quite victoriously disregarding. I remember the 
violently angry face well enough, but not the least what 
the offence could have been. A kind of Who are you, sir, 
that dare to tutor us in that manner, and harrow up our 
orthodox quiet skin with your novelties ?' " * 

A word might also be said as to living's personal ap- 
pearance. Dr. Addison Alexander, who, while on a 
visit to London, went to hear Irving preach, says : 

"He has a noble figure, and his features are not ugly, 
with the exception of an awful squint. His hair is parted 
right and left and hangs down on his shoulders in affected 
disorder. His dress is laboriously old-fashioned — a black 
Quaker coat and short clothes. His voice is harsh, but 
like a trumpet; it takes hold of one and cannot be for- 
gotten." 2 

In his youth his height, his long hair and his princely 
bearing made him a conspicuous figure. Brown, Irving 
and Carlyle went one day to see the Falls of Clyde : 

"The Falls were very grand and storm ful — nothing 
to say against the Falls ; but at the last of them, or pos- 
sibly at Bothwell Banks farther on, a woman who offici- 
ated as guide and cicerone, most superfluous, unwilling 
too, but firmly persistent in her purpose, happened to be 
in her worst humor; did nothing but snap and snarl, 
and being answered by bits of quiz, towered at length into 
foam. She intimated she would bring somebody who 
would ask us how we could so treat an unprotected fe- 

1 Carlyle, Thomas: "Reminiscences," p. 06. 

"Alexander, Henry Carrington: "The Life of Joseph Addison Alexander." 
New York, 1875; p. 290. Cf. Carlyle: "Reminiscences," p. 70. 



146 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

male, and vanished to seek the champion or champions. 
As our business was done, and the woman paid, too, I 
own (with shame if needed) my thought would have 
been to march with decent activity on our way, not look- 
ing back unless summoned to do it, and prudently evad- 
ing discrepant circles of that sort. Not so Irving, who 
drew himself up to his full height and breadth, cudgel in 
hand, and stood there, flanked by Brown and me, waiting 
the issue. 

"Issue was, a thickish kind of man, seemingly the wo- 
man's husband, a little older than any of us, stept out 
with her, calmly enough surveying, and at a respectful 
distance; asked if we would buy apples. Upon which 
with negatory grin we did march." * 

Irving' s difficulties began, not with his popularity, but 
with the fact that his eagerness for the supernatural was 
unhindered by any inhibitions. He had not been preach- 
ing long in London before his interest turned toward pro^ 
phecy. For a man of his type an interest in prophecy was 
almost inevitable. 

It was also inevitable that Irving's type of mind should 
lead him to an eager interest in the problem of the return 
of the Lord. While thus interested, and engaged at the 
same time in the study of Spanish, he studied and trans- 
lated into English, during the summer of 1826, a Spanish 
work entitled "The Coming of the Messiah, in Glory and 
Majesty." 

Irving was not alone in his interest in prophecy. There 
have always been groups of men who have felt a special 
gift for understanding those aspects of reality before 
which both reason and the Scriptures draw a veil. Such 
a group existed in the days of Irving's popularity under 
the leadership of Henry Drummond. 

Drummond, who was six years older than Irving, was 

1 Carlyle, Thomas: "Reminiscences," p. 105. See also p. 246 and p. 259. 



THE IRVINGITES 147 

a wealthy banker and a member of the House of Com- 
mons. He was a man of no mean powers and abilities, 
and a man of independent convictions. The Rev. Edward 
Miller, M.A., in his admirable work on Irvingism, quotes 
the following description of Drummond : 

"Every habitual reader of the debates must be familiar 
with Mr. Drummond's style of speech. But only the 
habitual attendant can adequately realize its attraction 
and effect. The presence, the costume, the manner of 
the speaker were all totally unlike what the reader would 
imagine. A tall, slender, white-haired figure, perfectly 
upright, and scrupulously attired in black, rose from the 
first seat on the first bench below the gangway, on the 
ministerial side, whatever the ministerial politics. From 
a place thus significant of parliamentary independence, 
there was delivered, slowly, almost inaudibly, and with 
perfect gravity, a speech that proclaimed an equally inde- 
pendent position in the world of opinion. Through lips 
that hardly seemed to part, there came trickling forth a 
thin but sparkling stream of sententious periods, full 
of humour and sarcasm, learning and folly, boldness 
and timidity, bigotry and charity, and of everything 
antithetical. The strongest contrast of all seemed that 
between the speaker and his hearers. Everybody but 
himself was excited by laughter, or anger, or pleasure. 
He alone seemed perfectly unmoved — a speaking statue, 
shaking the sides of all men within hearing, and some 
who could not hear caught the contagion of laughter, but 
the man himself was a paradox. His strongly marked 
individuality ran into so many opposite extremes that his 
right hand seemed always at war with his left hand. 
Some of his favourite notions seemed utterly puerile, yet 
there was a ripeness of wisdom in him that made his 
speeches abound with proverbial philosophy. 

"But it was by his religious opinions that Mr. Drum- 
mond was chiefly known to the general public, and yet 



148 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

least known. Sometimes a rash opponent would venture 
an allusion to his connection with a Church whose head 
ministers ranked as archangels, and whose services were 
in an unknown tongue. If Mr. Drummond forebore to 
punish such coarse and blundering replies to the thrusts 
of his own keen and polished blade, it was out of respect 
to a subject which he held too sacred for such encounters. 
The really remarkable thing about what we may call the 
parliamentary aspect of his religion was, that he con- 
stantly appeared as the champion of essentially Roman 
Catholic doctrine, and yet as the fierce antagonist of papal 
supremacy. His speeches equally offended Romanists 
and Protestants. Against the latter, as in debates on the 
law of marriage, he was the strict asserter of Church 
authority. Against the former, as in the debates on the 
Ecclesiastical Tithes Bill, and on the inspection of con- 
vents, he maintained the pope to be an usurper. He 
provoked, by the fierceness of his denunciations of these 
institutions, the uncontrollable feeling of Roman Cath- 
olics ; and he shocked Mr. Spooner by scornful disclaimers 
of the Protestant right of private judgment. 

"His social position was that of a link between the 
territorial and the moneyed aristocracy; and though he 
perpetually railed at the political economists, he founded 
at Oxford a professorship of 'the dismal science/ He 
ridiculed the opponents of capital punishment, and the 
advocates of humanitarian movements generally. Yet 
much of his time, as well as of his money, was spent in 
actively doing good. Nothing would have provoked him 
more than the association of his name with radicalism 
and retrenchment, yet there are few passages in the 
writings of financial reformers equal for severity to the 
speech in which he turned into words Gilchrist's forgotten 
caricature, representing the State as a maternal pig, with 
the last of her progeny sucking at her tail. No other 
man would have had the boldness to use such Rabelaisian 
wit as his with such unsparing severity, applying to dukes 



THE IRVINGITES 149 

and knights of the garter the same caustic aphorism as 
to venal voters. 

"But all this was but the rocking to and fro of a mind 
whose history was that of a continual struggle to reconcile 
authority and freedom, truth and beauty, religion and 



In the early winter of 1826 Drummond invited a group 
the members of which described themselves as "they 
who love His appearing" 2 to his house, "Albury," to 
"deliberate for a full week upon the great prophetic ques- 
tions which do at present most intimately concern Chris- 
tendom. The men stayed at Drummond's home for six 
days, and discussed questions dealing especially with the 
imminence of our Lord's return. The group numbered 
about twenty. 

"These meetings at Albury were continued annually 
for five years, the last being held in 1830, generally about 
the season of Advent. Forty-four people 3 in all attended 
one or more of them, but o»f these, nineteen were clergy- 
men of the Church of England, one was an English 
Moravian, two were Dissenting ministers, four were 
ministers of the Established Church of Scotland, and 
eleven English laymen, one Scotch Presbyterian layman, 
and six other Englishmen, whose adhesion is unknown, 
made up the number. 

"Amongst these were, besides Irving, Drummond, 
Wolff, and Hugh McNeile, Daniel Wilson, afterwards 
Bishop of Calcutta, Robert Story of Rosneath, a well- 
known Scotch minister, of whom we shall hear more in 
the course of this history, Hatley Frere, Haldane Stewart, 

1 Miller, Rev. Edward M. A.: "The History and Doctrines of Irvingism or 
of the So-Called Catholic and Apostolic Church." London, 1878. Vol. I, pp. 
33-4. Dr. Miller quotes this description from "A Notice in the Morning Star 
quoted in the Gentleman's Magazine, for April, i860, p. 414, as what 'appears 
to us on the whole well considered and impartial.' " See also Carlyle: "Rem- 
iniscences," pp. 246-7. 

3 OHphant: op. cit., p. 274. Quoted by Mrs. Oliphant from Irving's Preface 
to his translation of Ben Ezra. 

a For a complete list of those who attended the Albury Conferences see 
Miller, Edward: op. cit., Vol. I, p. 41 (footnote). 



150 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

Spencer Perceval, eldest son of the murdered minister, 
and afterwards one of the 'Apostles/ Mr. Tudor, after- 
wards editor of the Morning Watch, the late Duke of 
Manchester, then Viscount Mandeville, who had married 
the only daughter of Lady Olivia Sparrow, Mr. Strutt, 
the late Lord Rayleigh, and Dr. Dodsworth. 

"The second meeting, in 1827, was attended by a larger 
number than the first. Amongst these was Robert Story 
of Rosneath, who had not been present the year before. 
The interpretations of prophecy appear now to have taken 
a more definite turn, and to* have been carried onwards 
from merely general notions about the return of the Jews 
to Jerusalem, and the approaching coming of the Lord 
for his millennial reign on earth, to a detailed application 
to the 'times and seasons' of the current period. The 
Apocalyptic Vial was supposed to have been poured out 
on Rome, in A. D. 1798; and it was concluded that the 
coming of our Lord would take place in 1847. It is 
evident that in this method of precise interpretation they 
had ventured upon unsafe ground, and an amusing 
incident occurred which struck Story forcibly. 1 While 
they were in session, the news of the death of the Duke 
of Reichstadt, the son of the first Napoleon, reached 
them. That cannot be true,' said one of them, springing 
from his seat, 'for it would overturn this whole inter- 
pretation.' The young Napoleon had been taken for the 
Beast of the Apocalypse. 

" 'The School of the Prophets,' as Irving termed them, 
met again the next year. A falling off had already com- 
menced. Drummond came to the conclusion that 'some 
of the people last year had not been very faithful,' and 
consulted with Irving in the summer whom he should 
invite. It is striking to see the stress then laid upon 
passing events. The death of Mr. Canning, the forma- 
tion of a Liberal administration under Mr. Robinson, 
afterwards Lord Ripon, and a war with Turkey seemed 

1 Cf. Story, R. H.: op. cit., p. 224. 



THE IRVINGITES 151 

to the council to denote the near approach of the end. 
Indeed, the sixth vial was supposed to foreshow the fall 
of the Ottoman Empire. A speech of Canning's, in 
which he expressed his apprehension of a terrible conflict 
of opinions, when opposing principles would become the 
groundwork of a general war, was eagerly seized upon 
as indicating the nearness of the battle of Armageddon. 
It was thought that there would soon be a general apos- 
tasy of the Church, and that the Jews would be the instru- 
ments of Almighty God's displeasure. It appeared to be 
almost taken for granted that the Time-state' of the 
Church Militant would very soon close. 

"Whether from any comparative failure, or through 
circumstances wholly unconnected with the meeting yet 
interfering with the natural sequel to it, or more probably 
from the sudden outbreak of supposed prophetical in- 
spiration, which outleaped and cast into shade the pre- 
vious deliberations, we have no authorized record of 
the last meeting in 1830. 

'But we may glean the following particulars : The 
students of prophecy who still held together met at 
Albury in July. Certain events in Scotland, where the 
spirit of prophecy was supposed to have arisen, were 
among the chief subjects discussed. On the last day of 
the meeting, the chairman, 'a clergyman of the Church 
of England,' delivered it as his opinion — in which he was 
joined by the members of the conference : 'That it is our 
duty to pray for the revival of the gifts manifested in 
the primitive Church; which are wisdom, knowledge, 
faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discovery of spirits, 
kinds of tongues, and interpretation of tongues; and that 
a responsibility lies on us to enquire into the state of 
those gifts said to be now present in the west of Scot- 
land.' The meeting was a short one, not extending over 
three days. From other causes the movements had now 
made a sudden advance." * 

1 Miller: op. cit., Vol. I, pp. 40-46. 



152 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

In the parish of the Rev. Robert Story, of Rosneath, 
mention of whom has been made in connection with the 
Albury prophetic group, was a family by the name of 
Campbell, two of whom, Isabella and Mary, came in the 
course of time to be regarded as women of singular piety 
and virtue. Isabella was an invalid and a sufferer from 
a tubercular condition from which she finally died. Dur- 
ing her illness her religious experience was of such a 
nature as to attract and to hold the admiration of Mr. 
Story. After her death, Mr. Story wrote a narrative of 
her life which he called "Peace in Believing." The book 
was tremendously popular. In fact, the income from 
the work was large enough to permit Mr. Story and the 
publishers generously to provide for some of the pressing 
needs of Mrs. Campbell. 1 

The nature of Isabella Campbell's life may be judged 
from the following extracts from Mr. Story's work: 

"Often she would fast for a whole day, that her mind, 
as she conceived it, might be fitter for devotion." 2 

"In her religious development she became tormented 
with fears. . . . The sin against the Holy Ghost, for 
example, was charged upon her conscience with resistless 
energy. 3 

"In her struggle, she wandered into the fields, on the 
side of the mountain, or along the solitary shore, seeking 
rest, and finding none. She fasted and she prayed. Her 
soul, as it were, 'abhorred all manner of meat.' 'Weari- 
some nights' were appointed to her. No sooner did she 
lie down in her bed, than she would rise again, venting 
her agonies in piteous moanings; or if she found herself 
falling asleep, she would start from her pillow, terror 
seizing upon her, lest her awakening should be in a place 
of torment. 

1 Story, R. H. : op. cit., p. 224. 

2 Story, Robert: "Peace in Believing, or a Memoir of Isabella Campbell," 
etc. New York, Boston, 1830; p. 43. 

8 Same: pp. 51-2. 



THE IRVINGITES 153 

"Her bodily strength decayed; while her mind seemed 
to retain its strength only for the endurance of greater 
suffering. But no words can more fitly express her con- 
dition than those which she herself once used in her 
sister's presence. One of her cousins had been observing, 
'How miserable Isabella is ! What can be the matter with 
her? She has a look of such great anguish/ And Mary, 
a little afterward approaching where she was, heard her 
thus mournfully express herself, rather in the way of 
soliloquy than in the form of an address to her: 'O sin! 
Sin is just hell. I can understand well that which David 
said, "The pains of hell took hold of me." For one to 
experience a little more of this awful enmity towards 
God would make life insupportable. I feel it to be almost 
so as it is/ . . . 

"She began to think that it was sinful in one with so 
much conscious hatred to God and all things holy, to> dare 
to hold communion with him or to examine the revela- 
tions of his will. She seems, accordingly, at this time, 
to have abandoned altogether the reading of the Bible, 
and refrained from intercessory prayer; although she 
continued to deplore and confess her guiltiness.' ' 

Mr. Story continues : 

"It may be recorded also as very remarkable, that the 
passages of Scriptures, which she had got by heart, 
entirely faded from her remembrance. She likewise 
absented herself from church." * 

So scrupulous was she to avoid even the least appear- 
ance of evil that "she would not, for example, exchange 
the ordinary salutations with any person she met on the 
road, lest she should be tempted to utter vain words, or 
expend foolishly one of those moments upon which 
eternal results seemed to depend. When in society she 
was generally silent and thoughtful, listened eagerly to 
any religious conversation; and when she did speak, it 
was with great earnestness and solemnity; while at all 

1 Story, Robert: op. cit., pp. 56-7. New York, Boston, 1830. 



154 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

times, she seemed to regard with sacred horror any ap- 
proach to cheerfulness and gayety. 1 . . . 

"At length, she returned to the services of the Church 
and in great anticipation went again to the Communion. 

"She ate, however, the body and drank the blood of 
her Lord, without realizing what she had been antici- 
pating; so that she might have said to the promises of 
her deceiving hope, 'Where is the blessedness ye spake 
of?'" 2 

As a result: 

"Groaning and lamenting, night after night, she liter- 
ally watered her couch with her tears — the house con- 
tinually resounding throughout the silent watches with 
the voice of her weeping. Long would her mother lie 
sleepless, listening to expressions of grief, for which 
she had no remedy or comfort ; or when awakening from 
slumbers, which, through weariness of nature, she could 
not avoid, finding Isabella absent, she would thus be filled 
with alarm, lest some new calamity should visit her 
beloved child. Thus, at dead of night, had she to rise 
and leave the house, and search for her in the fields or 
where she often found her, and that during the depth of 
winter, careless of any of its storms, weeping and praying 
in her little garden. 'O, then it was pitiful to see her/ 
she has said to me ; 'not like an earthly creature. I could 
give her no help, and she could find none where she was 
seeking it. She looked so pale and wo-begone, it was 
easily seen that her misery could not be told.' " 3 

Mary Campbell, in writing of her sister, said : 

"I have known her run through the room, almost in 
very despair, exclaiming, 'I am lost! I am ruined for- 
ever! The pains of hell have taken hold of me! What 

1 Story, Robert: op. cit., pp. 61-2. 

2 Same: p. 66. 
8 Same: p. 69. 



THE IRVINGITES 155 

shall I do ? Whither shall I flee from His presence ? No- 
where, nowhere; there is no place where the Almighty 
is not. O ! that I could tear this awful heart from within 
me or escape from myself/ . . . 

"I have seen her, if calling at any place, and if offered 
anything to eat or drink, occupy eight or ten minutes 
in soliciting a blessing, ere she would venture to take 
any of it." * . . . 

After the death of Isabella, many visitors came to Fer- 
nicarry, attracted by reading the Memoir of Isabella 
Campbell, and much of the interest which attached itself 
to the older sister gradually was directed towards the 
younger sister, Mary. 

Let us read now from the biography of Mr. Story, 
written by his distinguished son, Rev. Robert Herbert 
Story, later principal and vice-chancellor of the Univer- 
sity of Glasgow : 

"In Isabella's Memoir, reference is made to a peculiar 
sorrow of her sister Mary's, in which she was called to 
sympathize. This was the death of a young man to 
whom Mary was engaged to be married, and with whom 
she had intended to go abroad on a mission to the 
heathen. His death frustrated the accomplishment of 
her design, but did not abate her desire to carry it out; 
and her mind continued to dwell upon it with intense 
interest, hopeless though the project seemed. She was 
in ill health, and exhibited obvious symptoms of the 
disease which had carried off her saintly sister. Her 
malady, however, was not of a nature to render society 
dangerous, or impossible to her. And society she had 
in abundance. The interest excited by Isabella's Memoir 
drew many to Fernicarry, to see the sister whose name 
was so often on its pages ; and that interest, attached to 
the memory of the one, ere long transferred itself to the 

1 Story, Robert: op. cit., p. 76. 



156 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

living presence of the other. She was a woman of great 
personal attractions, had a beautiful face, and soft eyes 
with drooping lids, which she seldom raised. She was 
very clever, and, considering her obscure circumstances, 
was well informed. Her character, however, lacked the 
moral strength of Isabella's, and her enthusiastic imagi- 
native mind was not so strictly controlled as might have 
been desired, by keen and clear instincts of perceptions 
of right and wrong. There was in her, in fact, much 
of the nature and disposition which have, from age to 
age, furnished the Church with mystics. 

"A young, beautiful, not highly educated, and withal 
excitable invalid, could not but suffer a certain distortion 
of the morale of her nature, and be led — insensibly, it 
may be — towards the borders of delusion and vanity, 
when she found herself the cynosure of the eyes of a 
large portion of the religious public, and beheld some 
company of its pilgrims ever and anon resorting to her 
shrine. Among those who thus came to Fernicarry were 
some whose minds were much engaged with the idea to 
which, at the time, Mr. Irving's teaching had directed 
public attention, viz. — that bodily disease was the direct 
infliction of Satan, and that, therefore, faith and prayer, 
and these only, should be employed as the means of 
deliverance from it ; and that, moreover, by the due exer- 
cise of these, the power of effecting miracles of healing 
and other wonderful works would he restored to the 
Church — a power hitherto kept in abeyance, because of 
the Church's faithlessness. 

"The subject of missions was also profusely talked 
about in Mary's sick-room, and the idea of a due prepara- 
tion for evangelistic work was more or less bound up 
with the new notions regarding the restoration of spir- 
itual gifts. To Mary, herself, the central point in all the 
discussions and speculations that went on around her, 
was the preaching of the Gospel to the heathen. A small 
band of intended missionaries gathered at Fernicarry — 



THE IRVINGITES 157 

funds were collected — clothes provided — and prayer was 
made to God continually that their way might be directed 
according to His will. This was in the winter of 1829-30. 

"To Mrs. Campbell, whose eldest son had for months 
past been on his death-bed, the constant stream of visitors 
which the discussions and arrangements about this pro- 
jected enterprise conducted to Fernicarry, became exces- 
sively trying. She frequently complained to her minister 
of the hardships to which the ceaseless influx of Mary's 
admirers and coadjutors subjected her. At last, on one 
occasion, when he found her on a bleak cold day rinsing 
clothes at the 'burn/ near the house, she told him that, 
though she never went to bed 'the day she rose/ yet, so 
great was the burden cast on her by these visitors, that 
she was utterly unable to give the attention that was 
indispensable to the comfort of her dying son. There 
were, she said, at that moment two young men in the 
house, one of whom had been there for some days, and 
there was no hint of his much-longed-for departure. Mr. 
Story at once went in, and on entering the little parlour, 
he found the pair, of whom she had spoken, comfortably 
seated beside the fire with books and writing materials 
on a small table before them. Stung into quick wrath 
at the contrast between their comfort and Mrs. Campbell's 
forlorn washing operations under the wintry sky, he at 
once told them that they ought immediately to be gone; 
that they had no right to oppress their hostess and idly 
eat the bread of charity, as they were doing, instead of 
attending to their ordinary avocations. To this, one of 
them starting up and stamping his foot, replied — 'Get 
thee behind me, Satan'; and, Mr. Story remaining un- 
moved by this exorcism, the other proceeded to explain 
that they were in their present position by the Lord's 
command, in order to be prepared for this work, and 
that it was an honour to Mrs. Campbell to, be permitted 
to minister to the Saints. 

"Why, then, said Mr. Story, if preparing for mis- 



158 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

sionary work, were they not acquiring a knowledge of 
the languages in which the Holy Scriptures were written, 
and of the people to whom they meant to proclaim the 
Gospel. No preparations of that kind, he was assured, 
were needful; and unbelief alone could suggest the 
thought of such carnal preliminaries. 

"If so, pursued the inexorable minister, why not cross 
over to Corval? There were thousands of Gaelic-speak- 
ing people there, who knew very little of the Glad Tidings : 
why not try their virgin powers on them? To such a 
rash experiment, it need hardly be said, they felt the Lord 
did not call them. 

"On Mr. Story's going from thence to Samuel Camp- 
bell's room, the sick man reiterated the complaints which 
had been made by his mother, and he added that his rest 
was night after night entirely destroyed by the continual 
talking and psalm-singing in his sister's chamber above 
him. 

"To her Mr. Story related all that had passed, and 
urged upon her that it was her obvious duty to send away 
these foolish young men, and to discourage the renewal 
of the visiting and noise, which were so grievous to her 
mother and dying brother." x 

The connection between Irving and the Campbells 
is brought out in Washington Wilks' account of Mary 
Campbell and the Rev. A. J. Scott, the greater part of 
which is taken from an account written by Edward Ir- 
ving for Fraser's Magazine: 

"The Rev. A. J. Scott, a man widely revered as a 
master of learning and especially as a teacher of religious 
truth; and envied to Manchester by many in London, as 
the principal of its Owen's College — was, up to the 
middle of 1830, the missionary of the Caledonian Church 
in Regent Square, to the poor of the city; and was thus 

1 Story, Robert Herbert: op. cit., pp. 194-7' 



THE IRVINGITES 159 

in close contact with Edward Irving — one of whose 
felicities it was to draw about him spiritual excellencies 
of every sort. Mr. Scott seems to have been more 
decided than his more eminent friend 'on this head/ 
indeed, to have expected what the latter only desired. 
Towards the end of 1829, he was on a visit to his father, 
in the west of Scotland; and was 'led to open his mind 
to some of the godly in these parts, and among others 
to a young woman who was at that time lying ill of a 
consumption, from which afterwards, when brought to 
the very door of death, she was raised up instantaneously 
by the mighty hand of God.' Being a woman of a very 
fixed and constant spirit, he was not able, with all his 
force and argument, which is unequalled by that of any 
man I have ever met with, to convince her of the dis- 
tinction between regeneration and baptism with the Holy 
Ghost; and when he could not prevail, he left her with 
a solemn charge to read over the Acts of the Apostles, 
with that distinction in her mind, and to beware how 
she rashly rejected what he believed to be the truth of 
God. By this young woman it was that God, not many 
months after, did restore the gift of speaking with 
tongues and prophesying in the church. In the inter- 
vening months a remarkable mental change was accom- 
plished. The study of Scriptures produced the convic- 
tion which Mr. Scott . . . had failed to produce. The 
young woman . . . had actually come to 'conceive the 
purpose of a mission to the heathen,' and wrote long 
letters for the persuasion of others to that purpose." x 

How the tongues appeared is told in Mr. Story's bi- 
ography : 

"On a Sunday evening in the month of March, Mary, 
in the presence of a few friends, began to utter sounds 
to them incomprehensible, and believed by her to be a 

1 Wilks: op. cit., pp. 208-210. 



160 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

tongue such as of old might have been spoken on the 
day of Pentecost, or among the Christians of Corinth. 
This was the first manifestation of the restored 'gift' — 
for such it was imagined to be. She desired to ascertain 
what the tongue was, in order that she might, if 
strengthened to do so, repair to the country where it was 
intelligible, and there begin her long-contemplated labours. 
By and by she announced that she believed it to be the 
language of a group of islands in the southern Pacific 
Ocean; but as nobody knew the speech of the islanders, 
it was impossible either to refute or corroborate her 
assertion; and, for the present at least, she was unable 
to proceed in person in quest of the remote Savages, 
whose mother tongue she held had been revealed to her." * 

Meanwhile, occurrences of a similar nature were taking 
place in a family named Macdonald : 

"On the other side of the Clyde, opposite the Gareloch, 
lay the town of Port-Glasgow. A family of the name 
of Macdonald was living there at this time; two twin 
brothers, James and George, with their sisters. The 
brothers, shipbuilders, staid and orderly men, two years 
before had become exceedingly devout. Their religion 
was of a quiet and unobtrusive type. 'Their doctrinal 
knowledge was at first very limited. They procured no 
religious books, for years they scarcely read one; the 
ministry under which they sat was unimpressive, and if 
they did adopt peculiar views of divine truth, it was 
from no heretical writings or preaching, but from the 
Bible alone that they derived them. For instance, al- 
though they soon became classed among the disciples of 
Mr. Irving, who at that time was beginning to be stig- 
matised as heretical, the fact was that, so far as I can 
ascertain, they never read a single volume of his, or at 
least not for years after their own views were established. 

1 Story, Robert Herbert: op. cit., pp. 204-5. 



THE IRVINGITES 161 

And although after a time they began to attend the 
preaching of the Rev. Mr. Campbell of Row, it was 
because they had previously been taught of God the same 
truths, and were attracted to Row by their love of them. 
. . . Until the eve of the miraculous manifestations in 
them, the subject of spiritual gifts did not at all occupy 
their attention, much less their expectations and desires; 
nor did it even when their prayers, in common with those 
of other Christians, for an outpouring of the Spirit, began 
to be answered by the pouring out of a very extraordinary 
if not marvellous spirit of prayer upon themselves/ In 
March, 1830, an event occurred in this family which one 
of the sisters thus describes: Tor several days Margaret 
had been so unusually ill that I quite thought her dying, 
and on appealing to the doctor he held out no hope of her 
recovery unless she were able to go through a course of 
powerful medicine, which he acknowledged to be in her 
case then impossible. She had scarcely been able to have 

her bed made for a week. Mrs. and myself had 

been sitting quietly at her bedside, when the power of the 
Spirit came upon her. She said, "There will be a mighty 
baptism of the Spirit this day," and then broke forth in 
a most marvellous setting forth of the wonderful work 
of God; and as if her own weakness had been altogether 
lost in the strength of the Holy Ghost, continued with 
little or no intermission for two or three hours in mingled 
praise, prayer, and exhortation. At dinner-time James 
and George came home as usual, whom she addressed at 
great length, concluding with a solemn prayer for James, 
that he might at that time be endowed with the power of 
the Holy Ghost. Almost instantly, James calmly said, 
"I have got it!" He walked to the window, and stood 
silent for a minute or two. I looked at him, and almost 
trembled, there was such a change upon his whole coun- 
tenance. He then, with a step and manner of the most 
indescribable majesty, walked up to Margaret's bedside, 
and addressed her in these words, "Arise and stand up- 



162 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

right." He repeated the words, took her by the hand, 
and she arose.' 

"The same evening James wrote to Mary Campbell at 
Fernicarry: 'My dear Sister, — Lift up your voice with 
us ; let us exalt His name, for He hath done great things 
for us, and Holy is His name. There is still power in 
the name of Jesus — yes, all power in heaven and on earth. 
Our beloved Margaret hath been made to hear His voice, 
and to rise up, leap, and walk. Faith in His name has 
given her soundness in the presence of us all. Mary, 
my love, lay aside unbelief, it is of the devil ; hear God's 
voice to you also, "Rise up and walk; what hindereth?" 

"Let Mary Campbell herself tell us of what happened 
on the receipt of this letter: 'Two individuals who saw 
me about four hours before my recovery said that I never 
would be strong, that I was not to expect a miracle being 
wrought upon me, and that it was quite foolish in one 
who was in such a poor state of health ever to think of 
going to the heathen. I told them they would see and 
hear of miracles very soon, and no sooner had the last 
of the above-mentioned individuals left me, than I was 
constrained of the Spirit to go and ask the Father, in 
the name of Jesus, to stretch forth His hand to heal, and 
that signs and wonders might again be done in the name 
of His Holy Child, Jesus. One thing I was enabled to 
ask in faith, nothing doubting, which was, that by the 
next morning I might have some miracle to inform them 
of. It was not long after this that I received our dear 
brother James Macdonald's letter, giving me an account 
of his sister's having been raised, and commanding me 
to rise and walk. I had scarcely read the first page when 
I became quite overpowered, and laid it aside for a few 
minutes; but I had no rest in my spirit until I took it 
up again and began to read. As I read, every word came 
with power, but when I came to the command to arise, 
it came home with a power which no words can describe; 
it was felt to be indeed the voice of Christ; it was such 



THE IRvTNGITES 163 

a voice of power as could not be resisted. A mighty 
power was instantaneously exerted upon me. I first felt 
as if I had been lifted up from off the earth, and all my 
diseases taken off me. At the voice of Jesus I was surely 
made in a moment to stand upon my feet, leap and walk, 
sing and rejoice. O that men would praise the Lord for 
His goodness, for His wonderful works to the children 
of men/ 

"After her recovery Mary Campbell lived during the 
summer of 1830 at Helensburgh. There meetings in- 
numerable were held, manifestations extraordinary were 
made. To the speaking was now added writing in the 
unknown tongues. When the moment of inspiration 
came, Mary seized the pen, and with a rapidity 'like 
lightning' covered sheets of paper with characters be- 
lieved to be letters and words. The gift of prophecy, 
too, was largely exercised, a gift not to- be confounded 
with foretelling of future events or ordinary Christian 
teaching, but consisting in inspired exalted utterances, 
opening up some obscure passage of Scripture, or en- 
forcing some neglected duty, or breaking forth ecstatically 
into prayer and praise. Crowds gathered round the 
young, attractive enthusiast. 'Among their number/ 
says one who wrote in the midst of the excitement, 'they 
can reckon merchants, divinity students, writers to the 
Signet, advocates. ... I have known gentlemen who 
rank high in society come from Edinburgh, join in all 
the exercises, declare their implicit faith in all Mary 
Campbell's pretensions, ask her concerning the times and 
seasons, inquire the meaning of certain passages of 
Scripture, and bow to her decisions with the utmost 
deference as one inspired by Heaven/ 

"In Port Glasgow the area of manifestation was en- 
larged. The gift of interpretation was added to that of 
the tongues. By both brothers these two gifts were in 
constant exercise. They were bestowed also upon others. 
Prophetic utterances abounded. The excitement grew, 



164 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

the visitors from a distance increased. 'Ever since Mar- 
garet was raised and the gift of tongues given/ writes 
one of the sisters (May 18th, 1830), 'the house has been 
filled every day with people from all parts of England, 
Scotland, and Ireland.' Special interest was awakened 
where special hopes in this direction had for some time 
been cherished. Five delegates came down from London, 
who stayed three weeks at Port-Glasgow, and had every 
opportunity of seeing all that was going on, and of 
becoming personally acquainted with those engaged in it. 
One of these, a solicitor, recognised and quoted as an 
entirely competent witness by the writer of an article in 
the Edinburgh Review, closes his description of what he 
witnessed thus : 

" These persons, while uttering the unknown sounds, 
as also while speaking in the Spirit in their own language, 
have every appearance of being under supernatural direc- 
tion. The manner and voice are (speaking generally) 
different from what they are at other times, and on ordi- 
nary occasions. This difference does not consist merely 
in the peculiar solemnity and fervour of manner (which 
they possess), but their whole deportment gives an im- 
pression, not to be conveyed in words, that their organs 
are made use of by supernatural power. In addition to 
the outward appearances, their own declarations, as the 
declarations of honest, pious, and sober individuals, may 
with propriety be taken in evidence. They declare that 
their organs of speech are made use of by the Spirit of 
God; and that they utter that which is given to them, 
and not the expressions of their own conceptions, or their 
own intention. I had numerous opportunities of observ- 
ing a variety of facts fully confirmatory of this.' " x 

Margaret Macdonald died not long after what has been 
believed to have been her miraculous restoration to 
health. James Macdonald died of the same disease, tu- 

1 Hanna, William: "Letters of Thomas Erskine of Linlathen." New York, 
1877; pp. 176-180. 



THE IRVINGITES 165 

berculosis, in the early part of 1835, and George, also of 
the same disease, almost a year later. 1 

It was on April 30th that the first manifestation of the 
tongues occurred in London. Prayer meetings had been 
held for some time at the home of a Mr. Cardale, who 
later on took a prominent part in the affairs of the Catho- 
lic Apostolic Church. 

"Mrs. Cardale spoke with great solemnity in a tongue 
and prophesied, There were three distinct sentences in 
an unknown tongue, and three in English. The latter 
were, 'The Lord will speak to His people — The Lord 
hasteneth His coming — The Lord cometh.' She repeated 
the last words several times 'with gradually increasing 
and then diminishing strength and loudness.' Soon after 
this, at one of the same meetings, Mrs. Cardale spoke 
twice, and Miss Hall 'sang in the Spirit.' " 2 

The meeting of the General Assembly of this year was 
of unusual importance to Irving, as one of its principal 
items of business was the trying of the Rev. Mr. Camp- 
bell of Row and of the Rev. Mr. Maclean on charges of 
heresy arising from their proclaiming the universal na- 
ture of salvation. It was the preaching of Campbell 
which had been a contributing element in the engendering 
of the religious ideas of the Macdonalds and Mary Camp- 
bell. Campbell was condemned by the Assembly; Mac- 
lean escaped after a fashion. Incidentally a resolution 
condemning some of the writings of Irving was passed. 
During the meetings of the Assembly, Irving invited his 
congregation to meet at half past six each morning to 
offer special prayers for the Divine guidance of the As- 
sembly. After the Assembly adjourned, the early morn- 
ing prayer meetings were continued and prayer was of- 

a Hanna: "Erskine"; p. 233. 
'Miller: op. cit., Vol. I, p. 66. 



166 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

fered continuously for the outpouring of the gifts of the 
apostolic age. 

"In course of time some young men of the congregation 
asked to be allowed to meet in the vestry, which would 
contain about a hundred persons, for the purpose of 
praying for the outpouring, besides the public service 
already instituted, which, as has been just related, was 
started with another object. Irving consented, and 
agreed to preside over their meetings; and, when the 
numbers overflowed the vestry, held them in the church. 
They, too, waited for several months : when one morning, 
Mr. Taplin, on beginning to read the forty-third chapter 
of Isaiah, burst forth in a voice of thunder, uttering a 
few words 'in an unknown tongue/ ending with * Jehovah, 
hear us!' in English. On the next morning, the same 
speaker said with a superhuman shout, 'It is thou, O 
Britain: thou art the annointed cherub/ On the third 
morning, 'The Lord hath come down. He is in the midst 
of you. His eye hath seen, His heart hath pitied the 
affliction of His people, and He will deliver them. He 
will not leave a hoof behind.' 

"Mr. Taplin, who thus led the way in public utterances, 
was destined to exercise a considerable influence over his 
co-religionists. He was the son of a clergyman, who, 
after being in the ministry for upwards of fifty years, 
died at the age of ninety. He was considered to be well 
acquainted with Hebrew, Greek and Latin, and to be a 
good mathematician, as well as deeply versed in the Holy 
Scriptures. There is no reason to suppose him to have 
been otherwise than thoroughly honest and sincere in 
his belief; and afterwards, in order to devote himself to 
the work, he gave up a considerable source of revenue for 
a small income. He was possessed of strong powers of 
imagination, and was regarded as the chief means of 
'light' to the community, many of whose doctrines were 
due to his enunciation. At the same time he is said to 



THE IRVINGITES 167 

have been at heart as humble as he was upright and 
persevering." * 

Speaking in tongues and prophesying at these morning 
meetings continued, but it was not until Sunday, October 
1 6th, 1 83 1, that there was a manifestation in the regular 
morning service of the church in Regent Square. 

Irving's problem in reference to the tongues and the 
prophets had become a serious one. While he had felt 
that they were supernatural in their nature, and while he 
was singularly eager for their appearance, he did not seem 
to know just how to treat them when they came. He felt 
at least the serious unwisdom of permitting the manifes- 
tations in connection with the heretofore orderly public 
services of the church. 

On Sunday morning, October 16th, 1831, 2 just as Ir- 
ving finished the reading of the Scripture lesson, a Miss 
Hall, one of those in whom the manifestations had been 
appearing, 

"Finding she was unable to restrain herself, and re- 
specting the regulation of the Church, rushed into the 
vestry, and gave vent to utterance, while another, as I 
understood from the same impulse, ran down the side 
aisle and out of the church, through the principal door. 
The sudden, doleful, and unintelligible sounds, being heard 
by all the congregation, produced the utmost confusion, 
the act of standing up, the exertion to* hear, see, and 
understand, by each and every one of perhaps 1500 or 
2000 persons, created a noise which may be easily con- 
ceived. Mr. Irving begged for attention, and when order 
was restored, he explained the occurrence, which, he said, 
was not new, except in the congregation, where he had 
been for some time considering the propriety of intro- 
ducing it; but, though satisfied of the correctness of such 

1 Miller: op. cit., Vol. I, pp. 67-8. 

2 Some say "Early in November." Cf. Oliphant: op. cit., p. 424 and p. 427. 



168 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

a measure, he was afraid of dispersing the flock ; never- 
theless, as it was now brought forward by God's will, 
he felt it his duty to submit. He then said he would 
change the discourse intended for the day and expound 
the 14th chapter of Corinthians, in order to elucidate what 
had just happened. The sister was now returning from 
the vestry to her seat — and Mr. Irving, observing her 
from the pulpit, said, in an affectionate tone, 'Console 
yourself, sister, console yourself.' " 1 

Miss Hall had spoken after she had shut the door, first 
in an unknown tongue, and then shouted in English, 
"How dare ye suppress the voice of the Lord ?" Ye be- 
ing in the plural number grammatically, but in the singu- 
lar number prophetically. That the message was in the 
singular number was more clearly evident after the morn- 
ing service. In the presence of his elders and deacons, 
Irving was reminded by the prophetess that 

" 'Jesus hid not His face from shame and spitting; 
and that His servants must be content to follow him 
without the camp, bearing his reproach.' Poor Irving 
sunk on a chair, and groaned aloud in distress of spirit. 
Thenceforward, the prophets had their way with him." 2 

The following description of the service that evening, 
quoted by Mrs. Oliphant, is from Mrs. Hamilton : 

"In the evening there was a tremendous crowd; the 
galleries were fearfully full, and from the commencement 
of the service there was an evident uproariousness, con- 
sidering the place, about the doors, men's voices con- 
tinually mingling with the singing and the praying in 
most indecent confusion. Mr. Irving had nearly finished 
his discourse, when another of the ladies spoke. The 
people heard for a few minutes with quietness compara- 

1 Oliphant: op. cit., p. 424. Quoted from Pilkington's "Unknown Tongues." 
3 Miller: op. cit., Vol. I, p. 69. 



THE IRVINGITES 169 

tively. But on a sudden a number of the fellows in the 
gallery began to hiss, and then some cried 'Silence !' and 
some one thing and some another, until the congregation, 
except such as had firm faith in God, were in a state of 
extreme commotion. Some of these fellows (who, from 
putting all the circumstances together, it afterward ap- 
peared, were a gang of pickpockets come to make a row) 
shut the gallery doors, which I think was providential — 
for had anyone rushed and fallen, many lives might have 
been lost, the crowd was so great. The awful scene of 
Kirkcaldy church was before my eyes, and I dare say 
before Mr. Irving's. He immediately rose and said, 'Let 
us pray,' which he did, using chiefly the words, 'O Lord, 
still the tumult of the people,' over and over again in an 
unfaltering voice. This kept those in the pews in peace, 
none attempted to move, and certainly the Lord did still 
the people. We then sang, and before pronouncing the 
blessing Mr. Irving intimated that henceforward there 
would be morning service on the Sunday, when those 
persons would exercise their gifts; for that he would not 
subject the congregation to a repetition of the scene they 
had witnessed. He said he had been afraid of life, and 
that which was so precious he would not again risk, and 
more to' a like effect. A party still attempted to keep 
possession of the church. One man close to me attempted 
to speak. Some called 'Hear! hear!' others, 'Down! 
down!' The whole scene reminded me of Paul at 
Ephesus. It was very difficult to get the people to go, 
but by God's blessing, it was accomplished. The Lord be 
praised! We were in peril, great peril, but not a hair 
of the head of anyone suffered." * 

To quote further from Mrs. Oliphant : 

"The following version of the same occurrence, de- 
scribing it from an outside and entirely different point 
of view, appears in the Times of the 19th November, 

1 Oliphant: op. cit., pp. 426-7. 



170 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

extracted from the World. It is headed, 'Disturbance at 
the National Scotch Church.' It is curious as showing 
the state of contemporary feeling out of doors: 

" 'On Sunday the Rev. Edward Irving delivered two 
sermons on the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, on each 
of which occasions the congregation was disturbed by 
individuals pretending to the miraculous gift of tongues. 
During the sermon in the morning a lady (a Miss Hall) 
thus singularly endowed was compelled to retire into the 
vestry, where she was unable, as she herself says, to 
restrain herself, and spoke for some time in an unknown 
tongue, to the great surprise of the congregation, who 
did not seem prepared for the exhibition. The reverend 
gentleman resumed the subject in the evening by dis- 
coursing from, or rather expounding, the 12th chapter 
of 1st Corinthians. Toward the conclusion of the expo- 
sition he took occasion to allude to the circumstances of 
the morning and expressed his doubt whether he had done 
right in restraining the exercise of the gift in the church 
itself and compelling the lady to retire to the vestry. 
At this moment a gentleman in the gallery, a Mr. Taplin, 
who keeps an academy in Castle Street, Holborn, rose 
from his seat, and commenced a violent harangue in the 
unknown tongue. The confusion occasioned was ex- 
treme. The whole congregation rose from their seats 
in affright; several ladies screamed aloud, and others 
rushed to the doors. Some supposed that the building 
was in danger, and that there had either been a murder, 
or an attempt to murder some person in the gallery, 
insomuch that one gentleman actually called out to the 
pew-openers and beadle to stop him, and not to let him 
escape. On both occasions the church was extremely 
crowded, particularly in the evening, and it would be 
impossible to describe the confusion produced by this 
display of fanaticism. There was, indeed, in the strange, 
unearthly sound and extraordinary power of voice, 
enough to appall the heart of the most stout-hearted. 



THE IRVINGITES 171 

A great part of the congregation standing upon the seats 
to ascertain the cause of the alarm, while the reverend 
gentleman, standing with arms extended and occasionally 
beckoning them to silence, formed a scene which partook 
as much of the ridiculous as the sublime. No attempt 
was made to stop the individual, and after two or three 
minutes he became exhausted and sat down, and then 
the reverend gentleman concluded the service. Many- 
were so alarmed, and others so disgusted, that they did 
not return again into the church, and discussed the pro- 
priety of the reverend gentleman suffering the exhibition, 
and altogether a sensation was produced which will not 
be soon forgotten by those who were present. " * 

This was only the beginning of those scenes of disorder 
and distress which marked the turning of the tide against 
Irving. Week after week there were tongues and pro- 
phesying. Week after week there was confusion and dis- 
order. The staid Scotch congregation at Regent Square 
was aghast : "Most of the session disliked all this," wrote 
Irving 2 in a letter to a friend, "and had I not been firm 
and resolved to go out myself sooner, the voice of the 
Holy Ghost would ere this have been put down by one 
means or another." 

Irving was no longer master in his own church, or in 
his own pulpit. The prophetic and gifted interrupted 
and disturbed the services as they pleased until the Lon- 
don Times felt constrained to inquire: 

"Are we to listen to the screaming of hysterical women 
and the ravings of frantic men? Is bawling to be added 
to absurdity, and the disturber of a congregation to 
escape the police and tread-mill because the person who 
occupies the pulpit vouches for his inspiration ?" 3 

*01iphant: op. cit., pp. 427, 428. 

8 Same: p. 429. Quoted from a letter from Irving to Mr. Macdonald. 

'Same: p. 433. 



172 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

Irving had stated that he would forbid the manifesta* 
tions again at the Sunday services, but reflection led him 
to the conclusion that he must not dare to forbid or to 
hinder what he considered to be the Spirit of God. We 
therefore find Miss Emily Cardale speaking at a public 
service in the unknown tongue: 

"She said, 'He shall reveal it ! He shall reveal it ! Yea, 
heed it! Yea, heed it! Ye are yet in the wilderness. 
Despise not His Word! Despise not His Word! Not 
one jot or tittle shall pass away!' The minister then 
rose and called upon the Church to bless the Lord for 
His voice, which they had just heard in the midst of 
the congregation." x 

Robert Bridges, Esq., tells us of a visit which he paid 
to the church at Regent Square about this time : 

"I was witness on one occasion to the power and au- 
thority exercised by the prophets over Irving. Desirous 
to see the state of the church in its full blow, I attended 
an early morning service at Regent Square, and there 
found a goodly number of the faithful, with Irving in 
the pulpit, a devoted official in the precentor's desk, and 
the prophets and prophetesses assembled in their close 
vicinity. After praise and prayer, the regular services 
were interrupted by a loud scream proceeding from a 
female in one of the pews, who jabbered and gabbled 
for a time at the height of her voice in a tongue truly 
unknown, the vocables sounding as if irreducible to gram- 
matical construction, and mere contorted varieties of odd 
and fantastic syllables. I had been told previously that 
there was an awful solemnity in this department of their 
worship, but I felt at the time only the melancholy and 
ridicule which were its characteristic results. The 
prophetess was broken in upon in her turn by a prophet, 
Mr. Taplin. This gentleman was frantic in occasional 

1 OHphant: op. cit., p. 435. 



THE IRVINGITES 173 

English, intermingled with his 'tongue,' and as I could 
understand that, I listened with earnestness, feeling that 
if he uttered anything false in doctrine, he was thereby 
proved to be no prophet of the Lord. He did utter a 
false doctrine; I noted it carefully on the moment; and, 
waiting for Irving at the close of the service in the body 
of the church, I charged it publicly on the prophet. 
Irving, brandishing his immense cane over his head, 
called out in an excited voice, 'Mr. Taplin! Mr. Taplin! 
Hear what is said of you! Did you say so and so (re- 
peating my words) in your utterance this morning?' So 
adjured, that gentleman denied that he had used the 
words ; Irving and he thus, it will be noted, both agreeing 
that it was a false doctrine." 1 

And so, Sunday after Sunday, the prophets and the 
gifted spoke, and Irving offered up praise and thanksgiv* 
ing for the blessing. Meantime, "both at Liverpool and 
near Baldock in Herts, in the Parish of Mr. Pym," 2 there 
were manifestations. 

Considerable light is thrown upon the processes of 
thought, the motives and the character of the inner circle 
of the "gifted" persons who were associated with Irving 
by a little work written by Robert Baxter, Esq., a solici- 
tor. Mr. Baxter was apparently an earnest layman, who 
devoted much of his time to religious work. Baxter had 
heard of the manifestations in Scotland, his attitude to- 
ward which he describes in his book as follows : 

"Conceiving as I did, and still do, that there is no 
warrant in Scripture for limiting the manifestations of 
the Spirit to the apostolic times; and deeply sensible of 
the growth of infidelity, in the face of the church and of 
the prevalence of formality and lukewarmness within it; 
I was ready to examine the claims to inspiration, and 

1 Bridges: op. cit. sup., pp. 18-19. 

2 Oliphant: op. cit., pp. 433-4. Quoted from a letter from Irving to Mr. 
Macdonald. 



174. THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

even anxious for the presence of the gifts of the Spirit, 
according as it seemed to me, to that apostolic command, 
'Covet earnestly the best gifts/ Conscious that nothing 
but an abundant outpouring of the Spirit of God could 
quicken the church into active life; and that nothing less 
than the power of God, put forth in testimony, could 
stem the torrent of infidelity which was flowing in upon 
us; I longed greatly, and prayed much, for such an out- 
pouring and testimony. When I saw, as it seemed to 
me, proof that those who claimed the gifts were walking 
honestly, and that the power manifested in them was 
evidently supernatural, and, moreover, bore testimony to 
Christ come in the flesh, I welcomed it at once as the 
work of God, though it was long before I publicly spoke 
of it." 1 

In this frame of mind he went up to London on profes- 
sional business. While in London he attended one of the 
prayer meetings held by Irving's inner circle. He thus 
describes the meeting: 

"After one or two brethren had read and prayed, Mr. 
T was made to speak two or three words very dis- 
tinctly, and with an energy and depth of tone which 
seemed to me extraordinary, and fell upon me as a super- 
natural utterance, which I ascribed to the power of God ; 
the words were in a tongue I did not understand. In a 
few minutes Miss E. C. broke out in an utterance in 
English, which, as to matter and manner, and the influ- 
ence it had upon me, I at once bowed to as the utterance 
of the Spirit of God. Those who have heard the power- 
ful and commanding utterance need no description; but 
they who have not may conceive what an unnatural and 
unaccustomed tone of voice, an intense and riveting 
power of expression — with the declaration of a cutting 
rebuke to all who were present — and applicable to my 

'Baxter, Robert: "Narrative of Facts Characterising the Supernatural Mani- 
festations," etc. London, 1833; pp. 3-4. 



THE IRVINGITES 175 

own state of mind in particular — would effect upon me 
and upon the others who were come together expecting 
to hear the voice of the Spirit of God. In the midst of 
the feeling of awe and reverence which this produced 
I was myself seized upon by the power; and in much 
struggling against it was made to cry out, and myself 
to give forth a confession of my own sin in the matter 
for which we were rebuked; and afterward to utter a 
prophecy that all messengers of the Lord should go forth, 
publishing to the end of the earth, in the mighty power 
of God, the testimony of the near coming of the Lord 
Jesus. The rebuke had been for not declaring the near 
coming of Jesus, and I was smitten in conscience, having 
many times refrained from speaking of it to the people, 
under a fear that they might stumble over it and be 
offended. 

"I was overwhelmed by this occurrence. The attain- 
ment of the gift of prophecy which this supernatural 
utterance was deemed to be, was, with myself and many 
others, a great object of desire. I could not, therefore, 
but rejoice at having been made the subject of it; but 
there were so many difficulties attaching to the circum- 
stances under which the power came upon me, and I was 
so anxious and distressed lest I should mistake the mind 
of God in the matter, that I continued for many weeks 
weighed down in spirit and overwhelmed. There was in 
me, at the time of the utterance, very great excitement, 
and yet I was distinctly conscious of a power acting upon 
me beyond the mere power of excitement. So distinct 
was this power from the excitement, that in all my 
trouble and doubt about it, I never could attribute the 
whole to excitement." * 

Baxter described still another visitation of the power, 
and at the same time gives us a picture of the distress of 
mind from which Irving now suffered constantly. 

1 Baxter: "Narrative"; pp. 4-6. 



176 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

"Having been asked to spend the evening at a friend's 
with the pastor, one of the gifted persons (Mrs. J. C.) 
and three or four other persons, I went; and whilst dis- 
coursing on the state of the church, some matter of 
controversy arose, on which I requested the pastor to pray- 
that we might be led into truth. After prayer, Mrs. J. C. 
was made to testify that now was the time of the great 
struggle and power of Satan in the midst of us. . . . The 
pastor observed that this utterance taught us our duty 
as standing in the church to muster against the enemy; 
and whilst he was going on to ask some question, the 
power fell upon me, and I was made to speak; and for 
two hours or upwards the power continued upon me ; and 
I gave forth what we all regarded as prophecies concern- 
ing the church and the nation. . . . The power which- 
then rested on me was far more mighty than before, 
laying down my mind and body in perfect obedience, and 
carrying me on without confusion or excitement; excite- 
ment there might appear to a by-stander, but to myself 
it was calmness and peace. Every former visitation of 
the power had been very brief, but now it continued, and 
seemed to rest upon me all the evening. The things I 
was made to utter flashed in upon my mind without 
forethought, without expectation, and without any plan 
or arrangement — all was the work of the moment, and 
I was as the passive instrument of the power which used 
me. 

"In the beginning of my utterances that evening some 
observations were in the power addressed by me to the 
pastor, in a commanding tone ; and the manner and course 
of utterance manifested in me was so far differing from 
those which had been manifested in the members of his 
own flock, that he was much startled, and in the first 
part of the evening doubting whether it was of God or 
of the enemy. . . . He came up to me and said, 'Faith 
is very hard.' I was immediately made to address him 
and reason with him in the power, until he was fully 



THE IRVINGITES ITT 

convinced the Spirit was of God, and gave thanks for 
the manifestation of it." * 

On another evening, 

"whilst the people were departing, Mr. Irving called 
me, with Mr. Brown, his missionary, into another room, 
and said he was in some trouble as to what he should 
do on the morrow, which was Sunday ; whether to allow 
me to speak in the full congregation ; he had found doubts 
creep over him during the evening, though he scarcely 
dared to doubt. Mr. Brown's advice, without any deep 
consideration of the subject, was 'Don't do it whilst you 
have a doubt.' To this Mr. Irving assented, but turned 
to me, and asked what I thought. Of course, under the 
conviction which I had, I said he must not forbid it. 
Afterward the power came on me, rebuking him, and 
reasoning with him, until he sat down, and said he was 
greatly tried, and did not know what to do. I then told 
him to consult the prophets who were with him, and 
immediately the power came upon Miss H., who was 
wholly a stranger to me, but residing with him and then 
received as a prophetess among them ; and she was made 
to bear testimony that the work in me was of God, and 
he must not forbid my speaking. This satisfied him, 
and he yielded at once. 

"The next day, after the morning prayer-meeting, Miss 
E. C, at the pastor's house, was made to give forth an 
utterance, enjoining upon all deference and respect to 
the Lord's prophets; which served, though she was not 
aware of what had passed on the preceding evening, to 
confirm him in that which I had been made to say to him. 
I was afterwards in the power, in the most fearful terms, 
made to enjoin the most perfect submission to the utter- 
ances. . . . This was so strongly put, that, as Mr. Irving, 
on a future occasion, observed to me, he was tempted to 
doubt whether the Spirit, bearing testimony in such a 

1 Baxter: "Narrative"; pp. 12-14. 



178 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

manner to itself, was God's method of teaching us sub- 
mission. . . . 

"At the public services of the Scotch Church on this 
day, no utterance was given me, but in the intervals of 
service, whilst sitting with Mr. Irving and one or two 
other friends, the power was so abundant upon me, that 
almost every question which was asked was answered in 
the power and the wisdom and instruction which was 
given forth from my lips was as astonishing to Mr. Irving 
as to myself. We all felt as though the Lord was indeed 
resolving our doubts, and graciously condescending, by 
His Spirit, to teach us by open voice. Mr. Irving seemed 
most fully confirmed in the belief, and I was myself 
exceedingly composed and strengthened." 1 

Apparently two apostolic gifts had been restored, one 
of prophecy, and the other that of speaking with tongues. 
Baxter belonged rather to the prophetic group than to 
that group whose members spoke in unknown tongues, al- 
though he tells us of an occasion on which he was im- 
pelled to speak "two words in an unknown tongue, the 
meaning of which," he adds, "was not given me." 2 

The character of these prophetic utterances is pro- 
fusely illustrated in Baxter's Narrative. The great bur- 
den of the prophecy seemed to have been the importance 
and imminence of the Lord's coming. "We were com- 
manded" (in the course of a prophecy by Baxter which 
lasted about two hours, he tells us), "to 'count the days, 
one thousand three score and two hundred — 1260 — the 
days appointed for testimony, at the end of which the 
saints of the Lord should go up to meet the Lord in the 
air, and evermore be with the Lord." 3 

"The prophecy of the 1260 days testimony and going 
up of the saints, set forth a period of three years and a 

I 1 Baxter: "Narrative"; pp. 20-3. 
2 Same: p. 68. 
•Same: p. 17. 



THE IRVINGITES 179 

half, from the time of the delivery, up to the translation 
of the saints. The words of the prophecy were most 
distinct, to count from that day (viz., 14th January, 
1832) 1260 days, and three days and a half (Rev. XI: 
11); and on innumerable other occasions, by exposition 
and by prophecy, was the same thing again and again 
declared, and most largely opened.' ' 1 

It is to be noted also that this prophesying not only 
dealt with the Second Advent and the final rapture of 
the Saints, but there was evident no inconsiderable ele- 
ment of unkindly criticism of one prophet towards an- 
other. How often Irving was rebuked under the guise 
of prophetic utterance by men and women who were un- 
mistakably Irving's intellectual, moral and spiritual in- 
feriors, is already painfully obvious. 

"On the Saturday evening a large company assembled 
at Mr. Irving's house, with Mr. T. and Mrs. C, and the 
evening was passed in prophesying and expounding 
divers parts of Scripture, and particularly of the book 
of Revelations. . . . But at the close of the meeting, 
a scene occurred which baffles all description, and on 
which, whenever I now think, the deepest feelings of 
horror and shame creep over me. Mrs. C. was made, 
after our exposition was concluded, to< cry out in a most 
piercing utterance, that there was some one in the midst 
of us who was provoking the Lord by jealousy, envy, 
and hard thoughts of His servants, the prophets. Re- 
garding this as we all did, as the Spirit of God, everyone 
was cast back in examination of his own thoughts ; and, 
as the gift of prophecy was a general object of desire, 
many tender consciences converted their admiration of, 
and longing after, the gift, into an envy and provocation. 
A feeling of dismay seemed to run through the company, 
but no one answered. The accusation was reiterated, 

. a Baxter: "Narrative"; pp. 18-19. Ct p. 44. 



180 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

with a demand that the person should step forward, and 
confess. Many present, one after another, came for- 
ward, and, confessing some sin, enquired if they were 
any of them the culprit. None of these, however, were 
recognized as such. The cry again went forth, and my 
voice was mingled with Mrs. C.'s, declaring the person 
who was meant was conscious of it. The agony ex- 
pressed on many countenances was intense ; one man was 
so overcome, that his head fell on the chair, as though 
he were paralyzed, uttering an unnatural moaning cry, 
which shewed the intensity of his mental agony. I was 
made in power to pray the Lord to discover the offender, 
and ease the consciences of his children. But after some 
time spent in this state, seeing the person was not found, 
we prepared to go home. ... I turned round to Mr.- 
Irving, intending to ask all present to kneel down to pray, 
when Mr. Irving silently pointed to a person who stood 
by, and looking to him I saw a power resting upon him, 
and he struggling to give utterance. I paused, and when 
utterance broke from him, instead of articulate words, 
nothing but muttering followed, and with this an expres- 
sion of countenance most revolting. Lifting up a prayer 
to God to judge his own cause, and preserve us from 
judging unjustly of a brother; almost at the same moment 
an utterance broke from Mrs. C. and from myself : Tt is 
an evil spirit.' A thrill of horror passed through the 
company, and presently an utterance came from Mrs. C. 
— 'Rebuke the unclean spirit, and command him to enter 
no more into him.' The power came upon me, and I 
said, ( In the name of Jesus, I adjure thee, thou foul 
spirit, to come out of the man, and enter no more into 
him.' The man, however, continued muttering and 
speaking nonsense. Again the command came from 
Mrs. C, and the power upon me, and I used the same 

words over him again. Lady , who was present, 

and had before once or twice spoken in the power; under 
an impulse of the power, rose up, and stretching her 



THE IRVINGITES 181 

hands toward me, cried out in power, 'Greater is he that 
is in you, than he that is in the world/ and, repeating this 
several times, sank down on the floor. We all paused. 
The muttering and disgusting utterances continued. Mr. 
Irving suggested, 'This kind goeth not forth but with 
prayer and fasting/ We were, however, confounded, 
and the only explication I could suggest was, that the 
word of God had gone forth for the expulsion of the evil 
spirit, and we must rest in faith, that in due time the 
effect would follow, and the man be delivered ; and so we 
parted." x 

Various promises were made to the prophets through 
prophetic utterances. Thus Baxter writes : "I was made 
in utterance to declare to my wife that she should be 
baptised with fire." 2 He had also been promised 3 that 
he himself should be caught away by the Spirit as Philip 
was, but for the confirmation of these promises he waited 
in vain. For a time he was content to explain some of 
the failures in fulfilment as "a mimicry by Satan of the 
Spirit of revelation," 4 but the time came when such ex- 
planations no longer gave satisfaction. 

One more instance typical of the movement in its pro- 
phetic nature, and typical of the embarrassing absurdities 
into which an assurance of the voice of prophecy led the 
prophets is the story of Baxter and the Chancellor. Bax- 
ter tells it as follows : 

"After breakfast, when sitting with Mr. Irving, Mr. 
P., and a few others, Mr. Irving remarked that Mr. T., 
when in the Court of Chancery, had found the power 
mightily upon him, but never a distinct impulse to utter- 
ance. Whilst he was speaking on it I was made in power 
to declare, 'There go I, and thence to the prison-house.' 

1 Baxter: "Narrative"; pp. 72-4. 

2 Same: p. 64. 

3 Same: p. 41. 

4 Same: p. 41. 



182 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

This was followed by a prophecy setting forth the dark- 
ness of the visible church, referring to the king as the 
head of the Church of England, and to the Chancellor 
as the keeper of the conscience of the king. That a 
testimony should that day be borne before him which 
should make the nation tremble at what was coming to 
pass. That I was to go and bear this testimony, and 
for the testimony should be cast into prison. . . . The 
power upon me was overwhelming. I gave all present a 
solemn benediction, as though I was departing altogether 
from among them, and forbidding Mr. Irving, who rose 
to speak to me as I was going, I went out under the 
constraint of the power, and shaped my way to the court 
of the Chancellor, to bear the testimony to which I was 
commanded. 

"As I went on towards the court, the sufferings and 
trials I underwent were almost beyond endurance. Might 
it not be a delusion? Ought I not to consider my own 
character in the sight of the world, which would be 
forfeited by such an act; and the ruin of all worldly 
prospects, which would ensue from it, and from my 
imprisonment? These and a thousand more subtle and 
trying suggestions were cast in upon me; but, confident 
that the power speaking in me was of God, it seemed my 
duty to obey at every sacrifice; and without counting the 
cost, I gave myself up to God to do with me and use me 
as he should see fit. In this mind I went on, expecting, 
as I entered the court of the Chancellor, the power 
would come upon me, and I should be made to bear 
testimony before him. I knew not what I was to say, 
but supposed that, as on all other occasions, the subject 
and utterance would be together given. When I entered, 
no power came on me. I stood in the court before the 
Chancellor for three or four hours, momentarily expect- 
ing the power to come upon me, and as the time length- 
ened, more and more perplexed at its absence. I was 
tempted to speak in my own strength, without the power, 



THE IRVINGITES 183 

but I judged this would not be faithful to the word 
spoken, as my testimony would not have been in the spirit. 
After waiting this time I came out of court, convinced 
there was nothing for me to say." * 

Baxter continues the Narrative by telling of his return 
to Irving whom he greeted with the words, "We are 
snared, we are deceived. I had no message before the 
Chancellor!" Afterwards the matter was explained 2 to 
his satisfaction by one of the prophets who stated that the 
sealing of his mouth in the presence of the Chancellor 
was typical of the binding of the Church. 

Still another difficulty arose out of the fact that the 
prophets disagreed — an indication of the fact that the 
prophecies had an origin no more supernatural than the 
mental process, conscious or subconscious, of the prophets. 
It was the fact that the prophecies failed, plus the fact 
that the prophets disagreed, and, in addition, the fact that 
the prophecies fairly bristled with selfishness and a sense 
of self-importance that finally led one after another of the 
more critical minds to withdraw from the movement. 

Thomas Erskine of Linlathen, who had looked upon 
the tongues movement at first with considerable favour 
and had spent some time as a visitor in the home of the 
Macdonalds in Port Glasgow, tells in a letter to Lady 
Elgin, under date of March 18th, 1834, how he first 
came to doubt the supernatural nature of the utterances : 

"In two instances when James Macdonald spoke with 
remarkable power, a power acknowledged by all the other 
gifted people there, I discovered the seed of his utterances 
in the newspapers. He had read there a foolish rumour 
about the time of George IV's death, that the Ministers 
would probably find it convenient to conceal that event 

1 Baxter: "Narrative"; pp. 24-5. 

2 Same: pp. 27-8. 



184 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

when it took place, until they had made some arrange- 
ments. This had remained in his mind, and it came forth 
at last as an utterance in power, but wrapped in such 
obscurity of language as not to expose it to direct con- 
futation ; but on reading the paragraph I recognised such 
a resemblance that I could not doubt it, and I put it to 
him; and although he had spoken in perfect integrity 
(of that I have no doubt), yet he was satisfied that my 
conjecture as to its origin was correct. The other in- 
stance was a prophetic utterance of a war in the north 
of Europe — the language taken much from the nth of 
Daniel ; but the seed of it also was a newspaper paragraph. 
I thus see how things may come into the mind and remain 
there, and then come forth as supernatural utterances, 
although their origin be quite natural. James Macdonald 
could not say that he was conscious of anything in these 
two utterances distinguishing them from all the others; 
he only said that he believed that these two were of the 
flesh. Taplin made a similar confession on being re- 
proved through Miss Emily Cardale for having rebuked 
Mr. Irving in an utterance. He acknowledged that he 
was wrong ; and yet he could not say where the difference 
lay between that utterance and any other." x 

The prophecies were characterised by the same bick- 
erings, the same littlenesses, the same eagerness for dis- 
tinction which have ultimately characterised every mysti- 
cal and every antinomian sect. Baxter's Narrative, and 
in fact every record of the Irvingite movement, is a sad 
record of human frailty and human weakness, exalted 
into the glory of a Divine message. On one occasion 
Baxter tells us he had been made to declare to a Mr. F. 
the fact of his call to the spiritual ministry. After having 
been out of town for some time Baxter returned to find 
that: 

a Hanna: "Erskine," etc. Cit. supra, pp. 209-210. 



THE IRVINGITES 185 

"Mr. F., who had spoken in power amongst us, had 
been found to speak by an evil spirit, Mrs. C. and Miss 
E. C. having been made so to declare. This troubled 
me greatly, for I had been made in power to declare to 
him his call to the spiritual ministry. He had also been 
present, and spoke in power on the last morning of my 
presence, at Mr. Irving's, when two persons were sent 
out ; and when it was declared in the power that the Lord 
would not suffer an unbeliever or unclean person to be 
present at that holy ordinance, as it was called. Here 
were contradictions I could not explain away, and all I 
could do was to await the Lord's teaching on it. 

"Next, after a short interval, came a letter from Mr. 
Irving, which yet more perplexed me. He said, 'This 
moment the Lord hath sent me a very wonderful and 
wonderfully gracious message, by our dear sister, Miss 
E. C, concerning the time which you have been made 
so often to put forth. Rebuking me for having repeated 
it, and counselling me not to do it any more, declaring 
the word to be a true word, but containing a mystery; 
declaring that the day is not known, and commanding 
me to write to you, to say that you must not repeat this 
in the flesh, but suffer the Spirit to say it, how and when 
he pleaseth.' ... I was amazed at this message, for 
constantly had I been made in power to declare the time, 
and to explain it, and enforce it; and more than once I 
had been made to enjoin ministers publicly to preach it 
in the flesh, though they had no gift. I had then nearly 
fallen into the persuasion, that my gift could not be a 
true gift, or that I had so mistaken the leadings of it, 
as to be no more worthy to exercise it." 1 

Instances like this spontaneously multiply themselves. 
One more might be cited from the later history of the 
Catholic Apostolic Church, showing that the lapse of 

1 Baxter: "Narrative"; op, cit., pp. 92-3. Cf. p. 104 and p. 138. 



186 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

time in no sense freed the church from the baffling and 
baneful influences of contradictory prophecies : 

"Two words in prophecy came the same day, one in 
London, the other at Oxford, both having reference to 
the services in the Tabernacle as types of the service in 
the Christian Church, one of which said: The way to 
enter the house and upon the service of God was with a 
song, and then to offer prayers, supplications, interces- 
sions and thanksgivings . 

"The other word said : 'The way of the Lord for us in 
entering His house and on His worship, was to kneel 
down, and to confess, and this to be followed by the word 
of absolution.' When these two words were brought 
before the ministers, they were perplexed and they saict 
they were contradictory. When they were brought to 
the" apostle, he at once found out that one had reference 
to the service of the brazen altar in the outer court of the 
Tabernacle . . . and that the other word had reference 
to the service of the golden altar in the inner and holy 
place." 1 

The tongues were closely related to the prophecies. As 
already has been stated, many of those who prophesied 
spoke with tongues, and many of those gifted with 
tongues prophesied. The manner of prophecy and the 
manner of speaking with tongues seem to have been in 
large measure the same. Of the physiological conditions 
and of the psychological conditions of the gifts we will 
speak later. The question in which we are now interested 
is, What did they say, and in what language did they 
speak ? 

Mary Campbell said that she spoke in Turkish, and 
also in the language of the Pellew Islands, 2 a group of 

1 "Narrative of Events Affecting the Position of Prophets of the Whole 
Christian Church." Printed for Private Circulation, 1885, pp. 199-200. 
* Miller: op cit., Vol. I, p. 73- Cf. Story, Robert Herbert: op. cit., p. 210. 



THE IRVINGITES 187 

islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. Just what means 
she had to prove this is not stated. Dr. Miller quotes 
from Pilkington's ' 'Unknown Tongues" the following 
specimens : 

"Ythis dil emma sumo, supposed to mean, 'I will under- 
take this dilemma'; Hoseghin alta stare, 'Jesus in the 
highest'; Holimoth holif awthaw, 'Holy, most Holy 
Father' ; Hoze hamana nostra, 'Jesus will take our hands,' 
or 'direct us', Cass sora hastha caro, 'This house will still 
be in My care.' The crashing outbreak of Mr. Taplin's 
utterances is described as if cras-cran-cra-crash were vio- 
ently shouted out with a stentorian voice. It was fol- 
owed by such expressions as 'Abide in Him! Abide in 
Him! Ye shall behold His glory! Ye shall behold His 
glory! Ye shall behold His glory.' Dr. McNeile dis- 
tinctly heard Taplin utter amongst other sounds more 
than once, amamini, amaminor, words which irresistibly 
remind us of the speaker's scholastic duties in the 
'academy'." * 

Dr. Addison Alexander's description of his visit to 
London and of the tongues which he heard in Irving's 
church is well known : 

"After the singing of the 66th Psalm, he then began 
to read the 39th of Exodus, with an allegorical exposi- 
tion. After a short prayer for Divine assistance, the 
ouches of the breast-plate he explained to mean the rulers 
of the Church. While he was dealing this out he was 
interrupted in a manner rather startling. I had observed 
that the elders, who sat near him, kept their eyes raised 
to the sky-light overhead, as if wooing inspiration. One 
in particular looked very wild. . . . Just as Irving 
reached the point I have mentioned and was explaining 
the ouches; this elder . . . burst forth in a sort of wild 

1 Miller: op. cit., Vol. I, p. 72. Cf. Hanna: "Erskine," pp. 185-6. 



188 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

ejaculation, thus : 'Tarenti — hoiti — faragmi — sand' — 'O 
ye people — ye people of the Lord, ye have not the ouches 
— ye have not the ouches — ha-a-a; ye must have them — 
ye must have them — ha-a-a; ye cannot hear — ye cannot 
hear!' . . . When he began Irving had suspended his 
exhortation and covered his face with his hands." 1 

In Blunt's Ecclesiastical Dictionary we read the fol- 
lowing account of the tongues as spoken in London : 

"They are of much the same character as those of 
Mary Campbell, allowing for the difference between 
Scotch-English and London-English. Such were 'gthis 
dil emma sumo/ 'hozeghin nita stare/ 'Holimoth holif- 
su-thau (holy, most holy Father)/ 'hozehamenanostra,. 
mozehamenanostra, hosehamenanostra/ (Oh! send men 
and apostles), 'casa sera hastre caro, yec cogo nomo/ 
which look like scraps of English broken up and spoken 
in an hysterical voice. Nine times out of ten, the utter- 
ances of this 'unknown' type were long-drawn 'ohs' and 
'ahs' with a fragmentary syllable interposed at rare inter- 
vals, the whole thing brought to a close cadence which 
ended in a theatrical whisper." 2 

Still another account is quoted by Blunt from Mr. 
McKerrell's "Apology for the Gift of Tongues" : 

"The words of the tongue, as written down by me, 
are widely scattered ; none in the order they were spoken, 
except those marked within inverted commas. Hippo- 
gorosto — Hippo — Booros — Senoote — 'Foorime Rorion 
Hoopo Tanto Noostin' — Noorastin — Niparos — Hipanos 
— santos — hin, Boorim. 'O Pinkos' — Elelastina — Bali- 
rriun — gitos — Dentitu — Hampoolina — Furini — Arintus — 
Harempos — 'Epoongos Vangami' — Berossino — Yereston 
? — Sastinootino — Alinoosia — 'O Fastos Sunger O fastos 

1 Alexander: op. cit., p. 291. 

* Blunt: op. cit. Article: "Irvingites" (p. 230). 



THE IRVINGITES 189 

Sunger' — Deripangito — Boorinos — Hypen — Elstanteli — 
Erstini — Menati." x 



Carlyle's account of the tongues is frequently quoted: 

"In the course of the winter sad things had occurred 
in Irving' s history. His enthusiastic studies and preach- 
ings were passing into the practically 'miraculous,' and 
to me the most doleful of all phenomena. The 'Gift of 
Tongues' had fairly broken out among the crazed and 
weakliest of his wholly rather dim and weakly flock. 
I was never at all in his church during this visit, being 
at once grieved and angered at the course he had fallen 
into; but once or twice poor Eliza Miles came running 
home from some evening sermon there was, all in a 
tremor of tears over these same 'tongues' and a riot from 
the dissenting majority opposing them. 'All a tumult 
yonder, oh me !' This did not happen above twice or so ; 
Irving (never himself a 'Tongue' performer) having 
taken some order with the thing, and I think discouraged 
and nearly suppressed it as unfit during church service. 
It was greatly talked of by some persons, with an enquiry, 
'Do you believe in it?' 'Believe it? As much as I do in 
the high priest of Otaheite !' answered Lockhart once to 
Fraser, the enquiring bookseller, in my hearing. Sorrow 
and disgust were naturally my own feeling. 'How are 
the mighty fallen ! My own high Irving come to this, by 
paltry popularities and Cockney admirations puddling 
such a head !' We ourselves saw less and less of Irving, 
but one night in one of our walks we did make a call, 
and actually heard what they called the Tongues. It was 
in a neighboring room, larger part of the drawing-room 
belike. Mrs. Irving had retired thither with the devotees. 
Irving for our sake had stayed, and was pacing about 
the floor, dandling his youngest child, and talking to us 
of this and that, probably about the Tongues withal, 

1 Blunt: Same article. See also Hanna: "Erskine," pp. 392-3. 



190 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

when there burst forth a shrieky hysterical 'Lah lall lall V 
(little or nothing but Fs and as continued for several 
minutes), to which Irving, with singular calmness, said 
only, 'There, hear you, there are the Tongues !' And we, 
too, except by our looks, which probably were eloquent, 
answered him nothing, but soon came away, full of dis- 
tress, provocation, and a kind of shame. 'Why was there 
not a bucket of cold water to fling on that lahlalling 
hysterical madwoman?' thought we, or said to one an- 
other. 'Oh, heaven, that it should come to this!' I do 
not remember any call that we made there afterwards. 
Of course, there was a farewell call; but that, too, I 
recollect only obliquely by my Jeannie's distress and dis- 
gust at Mrs. Irving's hypocritical final kiss; a 'kiss' of 
the untruest, which really ought to have been spared. 
Seldom was seen a more tragical scene to us than this 
of Irving's London life was now becoming!" * 

Associated with Mary Campbell's speaking in tongues 
was a practice of automatic writing. Mr. Story secured 
a specimen of the automatic writing which he sent to Dr. 
Chalmers, who in turn submitted the writings to : 

"Sir G. Staunton, Dr. Pusey and Dr. Lee. The opinion 
of all was against their belonging to any language upon 
earth. The latter said: 'Whatever it (i.e., the paper) 
contains — if, indeed, it contains anything — must forever 
remain a mystery to me, for I am quite unable to attach 
any meaning, sound, &c, to the characters in which it 
is written. My opinion is, that it contains neither charac- 
ter nor language known in any region under the sun; 
and this, without laying any claim to miraculous powers, 
I venture to predict will turn out the case. If the 
authoress of these papers has indeed a miraculous gift 
of tongues, why does she not at once make out the proof, 
by giving out a composition in some tongue confessedly 

1 Reminiscences, pp. 251-3. 



THE IRVINGITES 191 

known to a few at least ? This would put an end to all 
possible doubt; and this, too, was the sort of proof given 
in the apostolic times.' 'We do hear them,' &c. This 
opinion has been amply confirmed by subsequent experi- 



All evidence therefore points to the conclusion that the 
Irvingite tongues can be assigned to no known language. 
Here and there words from known languages were in- 
terpolated, but they formed no connected whole. In the 
course of time the Irvingites came to abandon the theory 
of a language or languages miraculously bestowed, and 
adopted a theory of "unknown tongues." The "unknown 
tongues" constituted a spiritual language profitable only 
to spiritual beings, to such as had spiritual discernment. 

It is frankly stated by the adherents of the Catholic 
Apostolic Church in later years that 

"There is therefore no evidence in Scripture of the 
gift of tongues being for the purpose of preaching the 
Gospel. ... It is expressly and distinctly stated that it 
was not given for the purpose of speaking to man at all, 
but to God. . . . 

"But besides being for the purpose of glorifying God 
in a special manner, we are told that the speaking thus 
in a tongue was to be for a sign to those that believed 
not, i. e., believed not that God was speaking. ... It 
is a sign another being, present though invisible, and not 
the man, is speaking; that another has got hold of the 
organs of his speech ; that another spirit and not his own 
is empowering him, and impelling him to speak words 
which he knows not the meaning of, yet which are full 
of meaning, as is shown when they are interpreted. . . . 

"Tongues are for a sign to unbelievers in more senses 
than one. They are a sign to us, not only that God is 

1 Miller, op. cii., Vol. I, p. 73. Cf. Story, Robert Herbert: op. cit., p. 208 
and footnote. 



192 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

speaking, but also that He has something He longs to 
say, but which His Church is not ready for." x 

A characteristic of the tongues was the loud tone in 
which they were uttered: 

"Their utterances were often given forth in stentorian 
tones, and with an appropriate adaptation of the action 
to the word, they were accompanied by strange and un- 
couth attitudes and gestures. One of the members of 
the church, a Mr. Tudor, having one day expressed a 
wish that the prophets would not speak so loud, heard 
himself rebuked on the spot by Miss Hall, crying in the 
power, 'Know you what it is to have the Word of God 
within you as a fire in the bones ?' " 2 

Irving's own description of the tongues is as follows : 

"The whole utterance, from the beginning to the ending 
of it, is with power, and strength, and fulness, and some- 
times rapidity of voice altogether different from that of 
the person's ordinary utterance in any mood ; and I would 
say, both in its form and in its effects upon a simple 
mind, quite supernatural. There is a power in the voice 
to thrill the heart and overawe the spirit after a manner 
which I have never felt. There is a march, and a majesty, 
and a sustained grandeur in the voice, especially of those 
who prophesy, which I have never heard even a resem- 
blance to, except now and then in the sublimest and most 
impassioned moods of Mrs. Siddons and Miss O'Neil. 
It is a mere abandonment of all truth to call it screaming 
and crying; it is the most majestic and divine utterance 
which I have ever heard, some parts of which I never 
heard equalled, and no part of it surpassed, by the finest 
execution of genius and art exhibited at the oratorios in 
the concerts of ancient music. And when the speech 

1 "Narrative of Events Affecting the Position," etc., pp. 146-7. 

2 Guers: op. cit., pp. 4-5. 



THE IRVINGITES 193 

utters itself in the way of a psalm or spiritual song, it is 
the likest to some of the most simple and ancient chants 
in the cathedral service, insomuch that I have been often 
led to think that those chants, of which some can be 
traced up as high as the days of Ambrose, are recollec- 
tions and transmissions of the inspired utterances in the 
primitive Church. Most frequently the silence is broken 
by utterance in a tongue, and this continues for a longer 
or a shorter period, sometimes occupying only a few 
words, as it were, filling the first gust of sound; some- 
times extending to five minutes, or even more, of earnest 
and deeply-felt discourse, with which the heart and soul 
of the speaker is manifestly much moved to tears, and 
sighs, and unutterable groanings, to joy, and mirth, and 
exultation, and even laughter of the heart. So far from 
being unmeaning gibberish, as the thoughtless and heed- 
less sons of Belial have said, it is regularly formed, well- 
proportioned, deeply-felt discourse, which evidently 
wanteth only the ear of him whose native tongue it is 
to make it a very masterpiece of powerful speech." x 

In this description of the prophecies and the tongues 
we have somewhat lost the thread of our narrative. 
To tell the whole story of the vagaries and raptures and 
the disappointed hopes of the next months would be too 
lengthy a task to undertake. It is obvious that no such 
manifestations and extraordinary interpretations of wor- 
ship could prove acceptable to the officers and people of 
so staid a congregation as that of the church in Regent 
Square. Finally, after useless expostulations with Irving, 
the trustees addressed a communication to the Presby- 
tery of London, which concurred with the trustees, after 
a trial of Irving, and dissolved the relation between him 
and his church. 

In the spring he was tried at Annan by his own Pres- 

1 Oliphant: op. cit., p. 431. 



194. THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

bytery and deposed from the ministry for his teachings in 
reference to the human nature of our Lord. Carlyle 
describes the trial as 

"A poor aggregate of Reverend Sticks in black gown, 
sitting in Presbytery to pass formal condemnation on a 
man and a cause which might have been tried in Patmos 
under presidency of St. John without the right truth of 
it being got at! I knew the 'Moderator' (one Reddick, 
since gone mad) for one of the stupidest and barrenest 
of living mortals; also the little phantom of a creature — 
Sloane, his name — who went niddy-noddying with his 
head, and was infinitely conceited and phantasmal, by 
whom Irving was rebuked with the 'Remember where you 
are, sir!' and got answer, 'I have not forgotten where I 
am; it is the church where I was baptised, where I was 
consecrated to preach Christ, where the bones of my 
dear ones lie buried.' " * 

This was not all. The great Irving, the magnificent 
Irving, was no longer the leader in the new cult, for which 
he had suffered ecclesiastical martyrdom. He was their 
dupe, their victim. Not only did Presbyterianism rebuke 
him, but the individuals who made up the group of the 
"gifted" were each so eager for his own opportunity to 
lead and be some great one that with one accord they 
sought to brush Irving aside. 

He died in December, 1834. It was the Sabbath. 

"As the gloomy December Sunday sank into the night 
shadows, his last audible words on earth fell from his 
pale lips. 'The last thing like a sentence we could make 
out was, "If I die, I die unto the Lord. Amen." ' And 
so, at the wintry midnight hour which ended that last 
Sabbath on earth, the last bonds of mortal trouble 

1 Reminiscences, p. 256. 



THE IRVINGITES 195 

dropped asunder, and the saint and martyr entered into 
the rest of his Lord.'* 1 

His body rests in the crypt of Glasgow Cathedral. His 
statue stands in Anan. Upon the wall of the church in 
Regent Square is a tablet erected through the influence 
of Dr. Dykes, to the memory of the great Edward Irving. 
Only these memorials to powers to genius, to love, that 
with common sense would have meant immeasurable 
wealth for the Kingdom of God. 

We have noticed that Irving's followers had become 
his leaders. Their instability and the common lack of an 
ability to appreciate and to practise the nicer ethical dis- 
tinctions, such as kindliness of judgment and even grati- 
tude, are in clear evidence everywhere. While Irving was 
still living, the movement had been going on for the estab- 
lishing of a new church, The Catholic Apostolic Church. 
With its history we are not much at present concerned. 
For a time it flourished. It is now a religious nonentity. 
To it were attracted men from other churches, both in 
Europe and America as well as in Great Britain. It was 
planned to be an apostolic church after the model of the 
Catholic Church in the days of the apostles. Its origin, 
in so far as those curiously interesting legends called 
"apostolic succession" are concerned, was at least out of 
the ordinary — something like that of the Mormon apos- 
tolate. Just as Joseph Smith, Jr., and Oliver Cowdery 
ordained each other, so the Irvingite prophets and apostles 
favoured whom they would with the voice of honouring 
prophecy, receiving in return therefore an appropriate 
honour bestowed through the voice of the prophet al- 
ready honoured. Here we have the interesting story of 
Car dale's call to be the first of the apostles : 

1 OUpbant: op. cip., p. 559. 



196 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

"At one of these meetings (those for prayer and study 
of Holy Scripture, etc., held in 1833 and 1834), while 
Mr. Cardale was praying especially for the pouring out 
of the Holy Spirit as at the first on all the members of 
the body, the word came through to Henry Drummond, 
'Convey it then ! Art thou not an Apostle ?' No further 
notice was at the time taken of his word, but it was in 
fact the first recognition of the Apostolic ministry." 1 

Here follows another account, this time that of the 
ordaining of an evangelist, a Mr. Place : 

"Thus was the duty and office of those called to be 
Apostles pointed out, and the first Apostolic act in ordi- 
nation was performed by one of those, and the first who 
had been called to be an Apostle. He was bidden, through 
one of the Prophets, to go and ordain as an evangelist 
a young man, who was full of zeal and love, had long 
been labouring in the neighbourhood where he was then 
residing, visiting the poor and preaching to them the glad 
tidings of salvation. In obedience to this word he went, 
and on the Eve of Christmas-day, 1832, at a prayer 
meeting held in the house of a godly man, . . . laid his 
hands on the called Evangelist, and in words also supplied 
to him in the same supernatural way, bid him to receive 
the Holy Ghost for the work of an Evangelist. " 2 

Mr. Drummond was ordained as an Angel, the Angel 
of the church at Albury. Edward Irving was given the 
same honour. He was not considered worthy to rank 
with Mr. Cardale, an ex-solicitor, as an Apostle. Ac- 
cordingly he was made Angel of the Church in London, 
the church in Newman Street, now the place of worship 
of his congregation. The ordination took place on Fri- 
day, April 5th, 1833. The organisation of the church 

1 "Narrative of Events Affecting the Position," etc., p. 119. 
3 Same: pp. 18-19. 



THE IRVINGITES 197 

included Apostles, Angels, Evangelists, "Helps," and 
other officers. An elaborate ritual * was formulated, and 
confession, holy water and the burning of incense were 
introduced. It is an interesting fact, in view of the Mor- 
mon development, to note that the priesthood of the 
Catholic Apostolic Church was also "after the order of 
Melchizedek." 2 

Meantime the church had not lost sight of its principal 
doctrine, the return of the Lord. From time to time days 
were set and times appointed. The days came, and the 
end was not yet. Apostles were sent forth, testimonies 
dispatched to the Pope, 3 the Emperor of Austria, the 
King of France, "and to those in places of authority in 
the several parts of Christendom to which the Apostles 
were severally sent," and missionaries were dispatched 
here and there. But one after another, the Apostles, who 
had expected to be caught up into the air, went the way 
of all flesh. The consummation of the hope as they had 
seen it, was not theirs nor was it their children's, and to- 
day the Catholic Apostolic Church lies with the hand of 
death resting upon it, crushed under the weight of its own 
ecclesiastical millinery. 

1 "Narrative of Events Affecting the Position," etc.: p. 20. 

2 Same: p. 26. 

3 Same: p. 64. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE MORMONS, OR THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF 
THE LATTER DAY SAINTS 

Visions, revelations, ecstasies and the gift of tongues 
play a considerable part in the early history of Mormon- 
ism. The founder of the church, Joseph Smith, Jr., was 
born at Sharon, Windsor County, Vermont, on Decem- 
ber 23, 1805. About ten years later the family moved to 
Palmyra, New York. His home was thus in the Shaker 
country, as well as in the famous "burnt district" known 
in the history of revivals as the centre of a widespread 
movement characterised by ecstatic phenomena. Here 
also was the country of the beginnings of spiritualism, 
the home of the "Rochester knockings" and the settlement 
of the Oneida Community. 

Smith was the fourth child of Joseph Smith and Lucy 
Mack, his wife. There were ten children born of the 
marriage. Lucy Mack was the daughter of Solomon 
Mack who had been a soldier in the French and Indian 
War, and had later seen service in the Continental Army. 
He is said to have been subject to the "falling sickness." * 
One of Mrs. Smith's sisters, Lovisa, a Mrs. Tuttle, is said 
to have been miraculously restored to health after an 
illness of ten years, 2 but died three years later. Another 
sister, Lovina, died of consumption. 3 

1 Riley, I. Woodbridge: "The Founder of Mormonism." New York, 1903, 
pp. 14-15. 

2 Smith, Lucy: "Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and 
his Progenitors for Many Generations." Liverpool and London, 1853, pp. 
24-6. 

3 Same: p. 26. 

198 



THE MORMONS 199 

Mrs. Smith states that she also, shortly after her 
marriage, 

"took a heavy cold, which caused a severe cough. . . . 
A hectic fever set in, which threatened to become fatal, 
and the physician pronounced my case to be confirmed 
consumption." 1 

The Mormon prophet describes his father, Joseph 
Smith, Jr., as a farmer, and by his father he was in boy- 
hood taught 2 "the art of husbandry." From many other 
accounts the father's husbandry seems to have been of 
the intermittent sort. The father's farming seems to 
have been devoted to the raising and crystallising of gin- 
seng for export trade, in which venture a considerable 
sum of money was lost through the dishonesty, according 
to Mrs. Smith, 3 of persons in whom the Smiths confided. 
The reputation which both father and son enjoyed was 4 
not in any sense of the best — certainly not so far as 
industry, sobriety and general morality were concerned. 
Both spent considerable time in hunting and fishing — ■ 
so much so that they did not even own their own farm, 
but belonged to the "squatter" class. Both of them 
showed all the traits of vagrants — including also a marked 
tendency towards financial irregularity, or, shall we say, 
indifference ? 

It has been stated that both father and son made con- 
siderable of what money they did make through divina- 
tion. They located buried treasure, advised farmers 
where to sink wells, and rendered the usual services which 
those in touch with the occult are able to render to 
those who are credulous enough to pay for such services. 

1 Smith, Lucy: op. cit., p. 46. 

2 Smith, Joseph: "Items of Church History," etc. Salt Lake City, 1886. 

3 Smith, Lucy: op. cit., pp. 49, 50, 51. 

4 See the collection of affidavits of neighbors of the Smiths in Howe, E. D.: 
"Mormonism Unveiled," etc. Painesville, Ohio, 1834, pp. 231-269. See also 
Clark, John A.: "Gleanings by the Way." New York, Philadelphia, 1842, 
pp. 342-3-4- 



200 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

No record of any treasure found by the prophet or by his 
father is extant. On the other hand, there are some in- 
teresting stories told of their efforts at finding treasure. 
The following is taken from the history of Chenango 
County, New York, and tells of an adventure in Afton : 

"Joe Smith, the founder of Mormonism, operated quite 
extensively in this town and vicinity during the early 
years of his career as a prophet. The reputation of the 
family was very bad and Joe was considered the worst 
of the- 'Whole. Somewhere about 1828 or 1829 Smith 
made his appearance in Afton and attended school in 
District No. 9. Here his supernatural powers manifested 
themselves, by telling fortunes or 'foretelling futurity/ 
This was done by placing a stone in his hat and then 
looking into it drawn over his face so as to exclude the 
light. He first organized a society at the house of Joe 
Knight, on the south side of the river, near the Lobdell 
House, in Broome County. Excavations were made in 
various places for treasures and rocks containing iron 
pyrites were drilled for gold. Previous to digging in any 
place a sheep was killed, and the blood sprinkled upon 
the spot. Lot 62 was the seat of one of these mining 
operations." * 

An account of much the same nature appears in Emily 
C. Blackman's History of Susquehanna County (Penn- 
sylvania). 

"A straggling Indian who was passing up the Susque- 
hanna, had told of buried Measure. Joseph, learning of 
this, hunted up the Indian, and induced him to reveal the 
place where it was buried. . . . He (Smith) induced a 
well-to-do farmer by the name of Harper, of Harpersville, 
N. Y., to go in with him. They commenced digging on 

* Quoted by Cake, Lu. B. : "Peepstone Joe and the Peck Manuscript." New 
York, 1899, pp. 13-14. 



THE MORMONS 201 

what is now the farm of Jacob I. Skinner in Oakland 
Township. After digging a great hole, that is still to 
be seen, Harper got discouraged, and was about abandon- 
ing the enterprise. Joe now declared to< Harper that 
there was an enchantment about the place that was remov- 
ing the treasure farther off ; that Harper must get a per- 
fectly white dog, and sprinkle his blood over the ground, 
and that would prevent the enchantment from removing 
the treasure. Search was made all over the country, but 
no perfectly white dog could be found. Joseph said he 
thought a white sheep would do as well. A sheep was 
killed and his blood sprinkled as directed. The digging 
was then resumed by Harper. After spending $2,000 he 
utterly refused to go any further. Joseph now said that 
the enchantment had removed all the treasure; that the 
Almighty was displeased with them for attempting to 
palm off on Him a white sheep for a white dog, and had 
allowed the enchantment to remove the treasure. He 
would sit for hours looking into his hat at the round 
coloured stone, and tell of things far away and super- 
natural. At times he was melancholy and sedate, as often 
hilarious and mirthful; an imaginative enthusiast consti- 
tutionally opposed to work, and a general favourite with 
the ladies. 

"Smith early put on the airs of a prophet, and was in 
the habit of 'blessing' his neighbours' crops for a small 
consideration. On one occasion a neighbour had a piece 
of corn planted rather late, and on a moist piece of ground 
and feeling a little doubtful about its ripening, got Smith 
to bless it. It happened that that was the only piece of 
corn killed by frost in the neighbourhood. When the 
prophet's attention was called to the matter, he got out 
of the difficulty by saying that he made a mistake, and 
put a curse on the corn instead of a blessing. Rather an 
unneighbourly act, and paid for, too." * 

1 Quoted in Blackman, Emily C. : "History of Susquehanna County, Penn- 
sylvania," etc. Philadelphia, 1873, pp. 579-8o. See also Smith, Joseph, Jr.: 
"The Pearl of Great Price." Salt Lake City, 1891, pp. 66-7. Also Howe: 
op. cit., pp. 238-9. 



202 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

Both of Smith's parents claim to have been the re- 
cipients of visions of a religious nature. 1 When Smith 
himself began to be interested in religion through the in- 
fluence of a revival, he, in like manner, became subject 
to visions and special revelations. 2 

"I was at this time in my fifteenth year. My father's 
family was proselyted to the Presbyterian faith, and four 
of them joined that church, namely, my mother Lucy, my 
brothers Hyrum, Samuel, Harrison and my sister So- 
phronia. 

"During this time of great excitement, my mind was 
called up to serious reflection and great uneasiness; but 
though my feelings were deep and often pungent, still I 
kept myself aloof from all these parties, though I attended 
their several meetings as often as occasion would permit ; 
but in process of time my mind became somewhat par- 
tial to the Methodist sect, and I felt some desire to be 
united with them, but so great was the confusion and 
strife among the different denominations, that it was im- 
possible for a person, young as I was, and so unacquainted 
with men and things, to come to any certain conclusion 
who was right and who was wrong. . . . 

"While I was labouring under the extreme difficulties, 
caused by the contests of these parties of religionists, I 
was one day reading the Epistle of James, first chapter, 
and fifth verse, which reads, if any of you lack wisdom, 
let him ask of God, that giveth unto all men liberally 
and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. ... So 
... I retired to the woods to make the attempt. It was 
on the morning of a beautiful clear day, early in the 
spring of eighteen hundred and twenty. . . . 

"After I had retired into the place where I had previ- 
ously designed to go, having looked around me and find- 

1 Smith, Lucy: op. cit., pp. 54-6. 
3 Same: op. cit., pp. 56-9; 70-1. 



THE MORMONS 203 

ing myself alone, I kneeled down and began to open up 
the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, 
when immediately I was seized upon by some power 
which entirely overcame me, and had such astonishing 
influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could 
not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it 
seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to> sudden 
destruction. But exerting all my power to call upon 
God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which 
had seized upon me and at the very moment when I was 
ready to sink into despair, and abandon myself to destruc- 
tion, not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of an 
actual being from the unseen world, who had such a 
marvellous power as I had never before felt in any being. 
Just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of 
light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the 
Sun, which descended gradually while it fell upon me. It 
no 1 sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from 
the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested 
upon me, I saw two personages, whose brightness and 
glory defy all description, standing above and in the air. 
One of them spake unto me, calling me by name, and said 
(pointing to the other) 'This is My Beloved Son. Hear 
Him.' 

"My object in going to inquire of the Lord, was to 
know which of all the sects was right, that I might know 
which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession 
of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the 
personages who stood above me in the light, which of all 
the sects was right . . . and which I should join. I was 
answered that I must join none of them, for they were 
all wrong, and the personage who addressed me said that 
all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that 
those professors were all corrupt. . . . 

"He again forbade me to join any of them; and many 
other things did he say unto me, which I cannot write at 



204 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

this time. When I came to myself again, I found myself 
lying on my back, looking up into heaven." 1 

On the 2 1 st day of September, 1823, Smith is again 
the recipient of a vision. An angel named Moroni ap- 
peared at the prophet's bedside: 

"He had on a loose robe of most exquisite whiteness. 
It was a whiteness beyond anything earthly I had ever 
seen; nor do I believe that any earthly thing could be 
made to appear so exceedingly white and brilliant. . . . 
His whole person was glorious beyond description, and 
his countenance truly like lightning. The room was ex- 
ceedingly light, but not so very bright as immediately 
around his person. . . . He said . . . that God had a 
work for me to do, and that my name should be had for 
good and evil among all nations, kindreds and tongues. 
. . . He said there was a book deposited, written upon 
gold plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants 
of this continent, and the source from whence they sprang. 
He also said that the fulness of the everlasting Gospel 
was contained in it, as delivered by the Saviour to the 
ancient inhabitants. Also that there were two stones in 
silver bows (and these stones, fastened to a breastplate, 
constituted what is called the Urim and Thummim) de- 
posited with the plates, and the possession and use of 
these stones was what constituted Seers in ancient or 
former times, and that God had prepared them for the 
purpose of translating the book. . . . He told me that 
when I got these plates of which he had spoken (for the 
time that they should be obtained was not yet fulfilled) 
I should not show them to any person, neither the breast- 
plate with the Urim and Thummim; only to those to 
whom I should be commanded to show them; if I did, I 
should be destroyed. While he was conversing with me 
about the plates vision was opened to my mind that I 
could see the place where the plates were deposited, and 

1 "Pearl of Great Price": pp. 58-9. 



THE MORMONS 205 

that so clearly and distinctly that I knew the place again 
when I visited it." * 

Twice again that same night the angel Moroni ap- 
peared, and repeated over substantially the same reve- 
lations. 

" Almost immediately after the heavenly messenger had 
ascended from me the third time, the cock crew, and I 
found that day was approaching.' ' 2 

The next day, while walking with his father, Smith 
had another visit from the same angel, who this time 
commanded him to impart the secret to his father. 

"I obeyed, I returned back to my father in the field and 
rehearsed the whole matter to him. He replied to me 
that it was of God., and to go and do as commanded by 
the messenger. I left the field and went to the place 
where the messenger had told me the plates were de- 
posited, and owing to the distinctness of the vision which 
I had concerning it, I knew the place the instant that 
I arrived there. Convenient to the village of Manches- 
ter, Ontario County, New York, stands a hill of con- 
siderable size, and the most elevated of any in the neigh- 
bourhood. On the west side of this hill, not far from the 
top, under a stone of considerable size, lay the plates, de- 
posited in a stone box ; this stone was thick and rounding 
in the middle of the upper side, and thinner towards the 
edge, so that the middle part of it was visible above 
the ground., and the edge all round was covered with 
earth. Having removed the earth, and obtained a lever, 
which I got fixed^under the edge of the stone, and with a 
little exertion raised it up, I looked in, and there indeed 
did I behold the plates, the Urim and Thummim, and the 
breastplate as stated by the messenger. The box in 

1 "Pearl of Great Price" : pp. 62-4. 
a Same: p. 65. 



206 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

which they lay was formed by laying stones together in 
some kind of cement. In the bottom of the box were 
laid two stones crossways of the box, and on these stones 
lay the plates and the other things with them." * 

Joseph was about to take the plates when he was for- 
bidden and told to wait four years. In the meantime he 
was to come back and meet the angel once a year at the 
same place. 

In January, 1827, he married Miss Emma Hale, 
daughter of a Mr. Isaac Hale of Susquehanna County, 
Pennsylvania. The marriage was performed by " Squire 
Tarbill, in South Bainbridge, Chenango County, New 
York." 2 Mr. Hale opposed the match, and Smith was 
obliged to elope in order to secure his bride. The follow- 
ing is of interest as being an extract from a sworn state- 
ment of Mr. Hale : 

"I first became acquainted with Joseph Smith, Jr., in 
November, 1825. He was at that time in the employ of 
a set of men who were called 'money-diggers' ; and his 
occupation was that of seeing or pretending to see by 
means of a stone placed in his hat, and his hat closed 
over his face. In this way he pretended to discover 
minerals and hidden treasure. His appearance at that 
time was that of a careless young man — not very well 
educated, and very saucy and insolent to his father. 
Smith and his father, with several other 'money-diggers/ 
boarded at my house, while they were employed in digging 
for a mine that they supposed had been opened and 
worked by the Spaniards many years since. Young 
Smith gave the 'money-diggers' great encouragement at 
first, but when they had arrived in digging to near the 
place where he had stated an immense treasure would be 

1 "Pearl of Great Price"; pp. 65-6. Cf. also Clark: op. cii., pp. 225, 228. 
For another story of the Golden Bible, see Howe: op. cit., pp. 234-6. 
3 "Pearl of Great Price": p. 67. 



THE MORMONS 207 

found — he said the enchantment was so powerful that he 
could not see." * 

On the 22nd of September, 1827, the prophet went to 
the hill Cumorah, for that was the sacred name of the 
hill, to claim and receive the plates. He took the plates 
with him to Harmony, Pennsylvania, and took up his 
residence near his father-in-law. Mr. Hale says : 

"I was shown a box in which it is said they were con- 
tained, which had, to all appearance, been used as a glass 
box, of the common window glass. I was allowed to 
feel the weight of the box, and they gave me to under- 
stand that the book of plates was then in the box — into 
which, however, I was not allowed to look." 2 

While in Susquehanna County, the Prophet tells us: 

"I commenced copying the characters of the plates. I 
copied a considerable number of them, and by means of 
Urim and Thummim I translated some of them." 3 

Martin Harris, who had been a man of easily shifting 
religious opinions and "a firm believer in dreams, and 
visions, and of supernatural appearances, such as appari- 
tions and ghosts," was a farmer living in Palmyra Town- 
ship, Wayne County, New York. 4 He had become great- 
ly excited over and interested in Smith's Golden Bible, and 
on the strength of his interest, had lent Smith fifty dollars 
with which to go to Pennsylvania. Harris, according to 
Smith's account, came down to see Smith in February, 
1828, and 

"got the characters which I had drawn off the plates and 
started with them to the City of New York. For what 

*Howe: op. cit., pp. 262-3. 
3 Howe : op. cit., p. 264. 
•"Pearl of Great Price": p. 62, 
* Clark: op. dt., p. 223. 



208 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

took place relative to him and the characters, I refer to 
his own account of the circumstances as he related them 
to me after his return, which was as follows: 

" 'I went to the City of New York and presented the 
characters which had been translated, with the translation 
thereof, to Professor Anthon, a gentleman celebrated for 
his literary attainments. Professor Anthon stated that 
the translation was correct, more so than any he had be- 
fore seen translated from the Egyptian. I then showed 
him those which were not yet translated, and he said that 
they were Egyptian, Chaldaic, Assyrian and Arabic, and 
he said that they were the true characters. He gave me 
a certificate to the people of Palmyra that they were true 
characters, and that the translation of such of them as 
had been translated was also correct. I took the certifi- 
cate and put it into my pocket and was leaving the house 
when Mr. Anthon called me back and asked me how the 
young man found out that there were gold plates in the 
place where he found them. I answered that an angel 
of God had revealed it unto him. 

" 'He then said unto me, "Let me see that certificate. , ' 
I accordingly took it out, when he took it and tore it to 
pieces, saying that there was no such thing now as min- 
istering angels, and that if I would bring the plates to 
him he would translate them. I informed him that part 
of the plates were sealed, and that I was forbidden 
to bring them ; he replied, "I cannot read a sealed book." 
I left him and went to Dr. Mitchell, who sanctioned what 
Professor Anthon had said respecting both the characters 
and the translation.' " x 

This is one account. The following is an extract from 
a letter by Professor Anthon himself : 

"Many years ago, the precise date I do not now recol- 
lect, a plain looking countryman called upon me with a 
letter from Dr. Samuel L. Mitchell, requesting me to ex- 

3 "Pearl of Great Price": pp. 68-9. 



THE MORMONS 209 

amine, and give my opinion upon, a certain paper, marked 
with various characters which the doctor confessed he 
could not decypher, and which the bearer of the note was 
very anxious to have explained. A very brief examina- 
tion of the paper convinced me that it was a mere hoax, 
and a very clumsy one, too. The characters were ar- 
ranged in columns, like the Chinese mode of writing, 
and presented the most singular medley that I ever be- 
held. Greek, Hebrew, and all sorts of letters, more or 
less distorted, either through unskil fulness, or from actual 
design, were intermingled with sundry delineations of 
half moons, stars, and other natural objects, and the 
whole ended in a rude representation of the Mexican 
zodiac. The conclusion was irresistible, that some cun- 
ning fellow had prepared the paper in question, for the 
purpose of imposing upon the countryman who brought 
it, and I told the man so without any hesitation. He then 
proceeded to give me a history of the whole affair, which 
convinced me that he had fallen into the hands of some 
sharper, while it left me in great astonishment at his 
own simplicity. 

"The countryman told me that a gold book had been 
recently dug up in the western or northern part (I forget 
which), of our state, and he described this book as con- 
sisting of many gold plates, like leaves, secured by a 
gold wire passing through the edges of each, just as 
the leaves of a book are sewed together, and presented in 
this way the appearance of a volume. Each plate, accord- 
ing to him, was inscribed with unknown characters, and 
the paper which he handed me, a transcript of one of 
these pages. ... A proposition had accordingly been 
made to my informant, to sell his farm, and apply the 
proceeds to the printing of the golden book, and the golden 
plates were to be left with him as security until he should 
be reimbursed by the sale of the work. ... As Dr. 
Mitchell was our 'Magnus Apollo' in those days, the man 
called first upon him ; but the Doctor evidently suspecting 



210 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

some trick, declined giving any opinion about the matter, 
and sent the countryman down to the college, to see, in 
all probability, what the 'learned pundits' in that place 
would make of the affair. On my telling the bearer of 
the paper that an attempt had been made to impose on 
him, and defraud him of his property, he requested me 
to give my opinion in writing about the paper which he 
had shown to me. I did so without any hesitation, partly 
for the man's sake, and partly to let the individual 'be- 
hind the curtain' see that his trick was discovered. The 
import of what I wrote was, as far as I can now recollect, 
simply this, that the marks on the paper appeared to be 
merely an imitation of various alphabetical characters, and 
had, in my opinion, no meaning at all connected with 
them. The countryman then took his leave, with many 
thanks, and with the express declaration that he would 
in no shape part with his farm or embark in the specula- 
tion of printing the golden book." x 

Harris's resolution was not long kept. In a short time 
we find him assisting the prophet in translating the plates. 
In this, Smith sat behind a curtain and read the plates 
with the aid of his Urim and Thummim. Harris, on the 
other side of the curtain, took down the words as they 
were dictated in English by the prophet. After over a 
hundred pages had been dictated, Harris at his earnest 
solicitation, was allowed to take them home and lost 
them. It is generally believed that Mrs. Harris, who did 
not share her husband's visionary ideas, stole the manu- 
script. As Harris was one of the witnesses to the Book 
of Mormon, it might be well to note the following state- 
ment made under oath, by his wife : 

"He is naturally quick in his temper, and in his mad 
fits frequently abuses all who may dare to oppose him 

1 Clark: op. cit., pp. 233-4-5-6. Substantially the same facts are told in a 
letter from Professor Anthon to E. D. Howe. See Howe: op, cit., pp. 270-272. 



THE MORMONS 211 

in his wishes. However strange it may seem, I have been 
a great sufferer by his unreasonable conduct. At different 
times while I lived with him he has whipped, kicked and 
turned me out of the house. ... In one of his fits of 
rage, he struck me with the butt end of a whip, which I 
think had been used for driving oxen, and was about the 
size of my thumb, and three or four feet long. He beat 
me on the head four or five times, and the next day turned 
me out of doors twice, and beat me in a shameful manner. 
. . . His main complaint against me was, that I was al- 
ways trying to hinder him making money. . . . One day, 
while at Peter Harris's house, I told him he had better 
leave the company of the Smiths, as their religion was 
false; to which he replied: 'If you would let me alone, I 
could make money by it.' " * 

The loss of the first pages of the manuscript was no 
small one to the prophet. Not only was his labour lost, 
but he was in a serious quandary. If he should attempt 
to reproduce the lost pages, he knew that the stolen copy 
would be produced and the discrepancies between it and 
the new manuscript produced from memory pointed out. 
While in this difficult situation, however, he received a 
special revelation in which he was told not to< reproduce 
the missing pages. 

It was about this time that Smith began to make use 
of the services as a scribe of Oliver Cowdery, a country 
school-teacher. Cowdery occupies an important place in 
Mormon history as one of the witnesses as to the divine 
origin of the Book of Mormon. 

"Two days after the arrival of Mr. Cowdery (being the 
17th of April) I commenced to translate the Book of 
Mormon, and he commenced to write for me. 

"We still continued the work of translation, when, in 

1 Howe: op. cit., pp. 254-6. 



212 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

the ensuing month (May, 1824), we on a certain day 
went into the woods to pray and inquire of the Lord 
respecting baptism for the remission of sins, as we found 
mentioned in the translation of the plates. While we 
were thus employed, praying and calling upon the Lord, 
a messenger from heaven descended in a cloud of light, 
and having laid his hands upon us, he ordained us. . . . 

"Accordingly, we went and were baptised. I baptised 
him first, and afterwards he baptised me — after which 
I laid my hands upon his head and ordained him to the 
Aaronic Priesthood, and afterwards he laid his hands 
on me and ordained me to the same Priesthood — for so 
we were commanded. . . . 

"Immediately upon our coming up out of the water, 
after we had been baptised, we experienced great and 
glorious blessings from our Heavenly Father. No 
sooner had I baptised Oliver Cowdery than the Holy 
Ghost fell upon him, and he stood up and prophesied many 
things which would shortly come to pass. And again, 
so soon as I had been baptised by him, I also had the 
spirit of prophecy; when standing up, I prophesied con- 
cerning the rise of the Church, and many other things 
connected with the Church and this generation of the 
children of men. We were filled with the Holy Ghost, 
and rejoiced in the God of our salvation." 1 

After the translation of the Book of Mormon had been 
completed, it was printed with the financial assistance of 
Martin Harris, and hawked about. 2 It did not immedi- 
ately attain that financial success which had been expected. 

The contents of the book were summarised by Smith, 
himself, as follows : 

"In this important and interesting work the history 
of Ancient America is unfolded, from its first settlement 

1 "Pearl of Great Price," pp. 69-72. See also Howe: op. cit., p. 15. Cowdery 
is said by Howe to have been a blacksmith by trade. 

2 Cf . Smith, Lucy: op. cit., pp. 15 1-2 et seq. 



THE MORMONS 213 

by a colony that came from the tower of Babel, at the 
confusion of languages to the beginning of the fifth 
century of the Christian era. We are informed by these 
records that America in ancient times has been inhabited 
by two distinct races of people. The first were called 
Jaredites and came directly from the tower of Babel. 
The second race came directly from the city of Jerusa- 
lem, about six hundred years before Christ. They were 
principally Israelites of the descendants of Joseph. The 
Jaredites were destroyed about the time that the Isra- 
elites came from Jerusalem, who succeeded them in the 
inheritance of the country. The principal nation of the 
second race fell in battle towards the close of the fourth 
century. The remnant are the Indians that now inhabit 
this country. This book also tells us that our Saviour 
made his appearance upon this continent after his resur- 
rection, that he planted the gospel here in all its fulness, 
and richness, and power and blessing; that they had 
apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers and evangelists; the 
same order, the same priesthood, the same ordinances, 
gifts, powers, and blessing, as was enjoyed on the East- 
ern continent, that the people were cut off in consequence 
of their transgressions ; that the last of their prophets who 
existed among them was commanded to write an abridg- 
ment of their prophecies, history, etc., and to hide it up 
in the earth, and that it should come forth and be united 
with the Bible for the accomplishment of the purposes 
of God in the last days. For a more particular account 
I would refer to the Book of Mormon, which can be 
purchased in Nauvoo, or from any of our travelling 
elders." * 

There has been a great deal of discussion on the part 
of those who do not believe in the supernatural origin 
of the Book of Mormon, as to the source from which 
Smith obtained his data for the Book. One theory was 

1 "The Writings of Joseph Smith, the Seer." New York, 1889, p. 7. 



214 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

that he came into possession of the manuscript written 
by the Rev. Solomon Spaulding, but never published, 
called the "Manuscript Found/ ' and copied this manu- 
script word for word. As has been pointed out, if the 
prophet had been in possession of such a manuscript, the 
loss of the pages taken by Mrs. Harris would not have 
called for a special revelation. It would have been a 
very simple matter for Smith to have dictated again to 
Harris the contents of the lost pages. A great number 
of volumes and pamphlets have been written 1 on this sub- 
ject, both by Mormons and those who opposed them, and 
the old debate is being constantly revived. The object 
of the argument is, on the part of those who began it, 
to prove that on still another count, the prophet is both a 
liar and a fraud. But this is so obvious from his own 
conflicting statements, when we take time to wander 
through the maze into which they take us, and from the 
overwhelming testimony of those who had to do with 
him, that we need not be interested in obtaining any fur- 
ther evidence on that point. Why all this discussion 
about the book? Is there anything in it so eloquent or 
so noble that it challenges attention? Is there anything 
in it that is so painstakingly historical that it bears upon 
its face, evidence of truth? As a matter of fact, there 
is absolutely nothing in the Book of Mormon but what 
any country schoolboy, fifteen years of age, with a vivid 
imagination and plenty of confidence in himself, could 
have written. 

We have noted Smith's money-digging with the aid of 
a "peep-stone" hidden in his hat, and his translation of 
the Book of Mormon by the aid of Urim and Thummim. 
The refusal of present day scholars of Mormonism to< 

1 Cf . Clark: op. cit., p. 246 et seq. See also Winchester, Benjamin: "Plain 
Facts, Showing the Origin of the Spaulding Story," etc. Philadelphia, 1840 
et al. 



THE MORMONS 215 

see anything but a divine instrument in the Urim and 
Thummim reflects no credit upon their critical intelli- 
gence. "Peek-stones" or "Peep-stones" or Urim and 
Thummim are all one and the same thing — a survival of 
the superstitious practice of crystal-gazing. The story of 
the famous Dr. Dee and Edward Kelly is so strikingly 
like the story of the Mormon Seer and Revelator that it 
will he worth while to turn back the hand of time for 
four hundred years in order to note the identity of the 
ideas underlying Mormonism with those characteristic 
of witchcraft and necromancy. Dr. Dee was one of the 
great ones in the annals of necromancy. 

"As he (Dee) was one day in November, 1582, en- 
gaged in . . . devout exercises, he says that there ap- 
peared to him the angel Uriel at the west window of his 
Museum, who gave him a translucent stone or chrystal, of 
a curious form, that had the quality, when intently sur- 
veyed, of presenting apparitions, and even emitting sounds, 
in consequence of which the observer could hold conversa- 
tions, ask questions and receive answers from the figures 
he saw in the mirror. It was often necessary that the 
stone should be turned one way and another in different 
positions, before the person who consulted it gained the 
right focus; and then the objects to be observed would 
sometimes shew themselves on the surface of the stone, 
and sometimes in different parts of the room by virtue 
of the action of the stone. It had also this peculiarity, 
that only one person, having been named a seer, could 
see the figures exhibited, and hear the voices that spoke, 
though there might be various persons in the room. It 
appears that the person who discerned these visions must 
have his eyes and his ears uninterruptedly engaged in the 
affair, so that, as Dee experienced, to render the com- 
munication effectual, there must be two human beings 



216 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

concerned in the scene, one of them to describe what he 
saw, and to recite the dialogue that took place, and the 
other immediately to commit to paper all that his partner 
dictated. Dee for some reason chose for himself the 
part of the amanuensis, and had to seek for a companion, 
who was to watch the stone, and repeat to him whatever 
he saw and heard. 

"It happened opportunely that, a short time before Dee 
received this gift from on high, he contracted a familiar 
intercourse with one Edward Kelly of Worcestershire, 
whom he found specially qualified to perform the part 
which it was necessary to Dee to have adequately filled. 
Kelly was an extraordinary character, and in some re- 
spects exactly such a person as Dee wanted. He was just 
twenty-eight years younger than the memorable person- 
age, who now received him as an inmate, and was engaged 
in his service at a stipulated salary of fifty pounds a 
year. . . . 

"The first record of their consultations with the su- 
pramundane spirits, was of the date of December 2, 
1 58 1, at Lexden Heath, in the county of Essex, and from 
this time they went on in a regular series of consultations 
with and enquiries from these miraculous visitors, a 
great part of which will appear to the uninitiated extremely 
puerile and ludicrous, but which were committed to writ- 
ing with the most scrupulous exactness by Dee, the first 
part still existing in manuscript, but the greater portion 
from 28 May 1583 to 1608, with some interruptions, 
having been committed to the press by Dr. Meric Cassu- 
bon in a well-sized folio in 1659, under the title of 'A 
true and Faithful Relation of what passed between Dr. 
John Dee and some spirits, tending, had it succeeded, to 
a general alteration of most states and kingdoms of the 
world/ " 1 

1 Godwin, William: "Lives of the Necromancers." London, 1834, pp. 376- 
380. For the further use of the stone, see p. 382. See also Dixon, W. 
Hepworth: "New America." Philadelphia, 1867, pp. 362-4. See also Smith, 
Lucy: op. cit., p. 211. See also Howe: op. cit., pp. 215-6. 



THE MORMONS 217 

The following addendum to the story is not in any 
sense foreign to the story of the Mormon prophet : 

"Kelly at length started a very extraordinary propo- 
sition. Kelly, as an interpreter to the spirits, and being 
the only person who heard and saw anything, we may 
presume made them say whatever he pleased. Kelly and 
Dee had both of them wives. Kelly did not always live 
harmoniously with the partner of his bed. He some- 
times went so far as to say that he hated her. Dee was 
more fortunate. His wife was a person of good family, 
and had hitherto been irreproachable in her demeanour. 
The spirits one day revealed to Kelly that they must 
henceforth have their wives in common. The wife of 
Kelly was barren, and this curse could not otherwise be 
removed. Having started the proposition, Kelly played 
the reluctant party. Dee, who was pious and enthusi- 
astic, inclined to submit. He first indeed started the no- 
tion that it could only be meant that they should live in 
mutual harmony and good understanding. The spirits 
protested against this, and insisted upon the literal inter- 
pretation." * 

On April 6, 1830, a formal organisation for the Mor- 
mon church was effected at the home of Peter Whitmer 
at Fayette, Seneca County, New York. We are told 
that according to Orson Pratt it was just eighteen hun- 
dred years to a day after the resurrection of Jesus. It 
was not long before persecution became so bitter that it 
was necessary to remove to another section of the country. 
Joseph, who had been preaching in various places in New 
York, had received a revelation commanding 

"Parley P. Pratt, Ziba Peterson, Peter Whitmer, and 
Oliver Cowdery, to take a mission to Missouri, preaching 
by the way. . . . On their route, they passed through 

1 Godwin : op. cit., pp. 387-8. 



218 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

Kirtland, where they preached a short time, and roused 
up a branch of twenty or thirty members. Before leaving 
this place, they addressed a letter to Joseph desiring him 
to send an Elder to preside over the branch which they 
had raised up. Accordingly Joseph despatched John 
Whitmer to take the presidency of the Church at Kirt- 
land; and when he arrived there, those appointed to go 
to Missouri, proceeded on their mission, preaching and 
baptising as before." 1 

It was not long, however, before Smith himself was 
summoned to Kirtland, to which place he moved with 
his family and a number of adherents. Among the 
most zealous of his new followers was the Rev. Sidney 
Rigdon, a preacher of considerable power and fame, who 
had been associated formerly with the Disciples or Camp- 
bellites. 

"On Joseph's arrival at Kirtland, he formed a Church 
consisting of nearly one hundred members, who were, in 
general, good brethren, though a few of them had imbibed 
some very erroneous ideas, being greatly deceived by a 
singular form, which manifested itself among them in 
strange contortions of the visage, and sudden unnatural 
contortions of the body. This they supposed to be a dis- 
play of the power of God. Shortly after Joseph arrived, 
he called the church together, in order to show them the 
difference between the Spirit of God and the spirit of the 
devil. He said, if a man arose in meeting to speak, and 
was seized with a kind of paroxysm that drew his face 
and limbs, in a violent and unnatural manner, which 
made him appear to be in pain, and if he gave utterance 
to strange sounds, which were incomprehensible to his 
audience, they might rely upon it, that he had the spirit 
of the devil. But on the contrary, when a man speaks 
by the Spirit of God, he speaks from the abundance of 

1 Smith, Lucy: op. cit., p. 169. 



THE MORMONS 219 

his heart — his mind is filled with intelligence, and even 
should he be excited, it does not cause him to do any- 
thing ridiculous or unseemly. He then called upon one 
of the brethren to speak, who arose, and made the at- 
tempt, but was immediately seized with a kind of spasm, 
which drew his face, arms, and fingers in a most aston- 
ishing manner. 

"Hyrum, 1 by Joseph's request, laid hands on the man, 
whereupon he sunk back in a state of complete exhaustion. 
Joseph then called upon another man to speak, who stood 
leaning in an open window. This man also attempted 
to speak, but was thrown forward into the house, pros- 
trate, unable to utter a syllable. 

"These, together with a few other examples of the 
same kind, convinced the brethren of the mistake under 
which they had been labouring.' ' 2 

For some time prior to Smith's coming to Kirtland, 
the preaching of the Rev. Sidney Rigdon and others of 
his type had been gradually arousing a state of religious 
excitement. So great was the general public interest that 
people came from the surrounding country much as they 
did — although not in as great numbers — in the days of 
the Kentucky revival. 

"On Sundays the roads would be thronged with people, 
some in whatever vehicles they owned, some on horse- 
back, and some on foot, all pressing forward to hear the 
expounders of the new Gospel, and to learn the particu- 
lars of the new Bible." 3 

Frederick G. Mather in an article in Lippincotfs Maga- 
zine on "The Early Days of Mormonism" gives an in- 
teresting account from the pen of John Barr of Cleve- 

1 One of Smith's brothers. 

2 Smith, Lucy: op. cit., pp. 171-2. 

3 Linn, William Alexander: "The Story of the Mormons." New York, 
1902, p. 123. 



220 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

land, "an authority upon matters of Western Reserve 
history," describing the magnetic powers as a preacher 
of Sidney Rigdon, who proved himself, for a time at 
least, a valuable asset to Mormonism : 

"In 1830 I was deputy sheriff, and being at Willough- 
by on official business determined to go to Mayfield, which 
is seven or eight miles up the Chagrin River, and hear 
Cowdery and Rigdon on the revelations of Mormonism. 
Varnam J. Card, the lawyer, and myself started early 
Sunday morning on horseback. We found the woods 
crowded with people going in the same direction. 

"Services in the church were opened by Cowdery, with 
prayer and singing, in which he thanked God fervently 
for the new revelation. He related the manner of finding 
the golden plates of Nephi. He was followed by Rigdon, 
a famous Baptist preacher well known throughout the 
eastern part of the Western Reserve, and also in Western 
Pennsylvania. His voice and manner were always im- 
posing. He was regarded as an eloquent man at all times, 
and now he seemed fully aroused. He said he had not 
been satisfied in his religious yearnings until now. At 
night he had often been unable to sleep, walking and 
praying for more light and comfort in his religion. While 
in the midst of this agony, he heard of the revelation of I 
Joe Smith, which Oliver Cowdery had explained. Under 
this his soul suddenly found peace. It filled all his| 
aspirations. 

"At the close of a long harangue in this earnest man- 
ner, during which every one present was silent, though! 
very much affected, he inquired whether any one desired 
to come forward and be immersed. Only one man arose. [ 
This was an aged dead-beat by the name of Cahoon, wh< 
occasionally joined the Shakers, and lived on the country| 
generally. 

"The place selected for immersion was in a clear pool 
in the river above the bridge, around which was a beauti- 



THE MORMONS 221 

ful rise of ground on the west side for the audience. On 
the east bank was a sharp bluff and some stumps, where 
Mr. Card and myself stationed ourselves. The time for 
baptism was fixed at two p.m. Long before this hour the 
spot was surrounded by as many people as could have a 
clear view. Rigdon went into the pool, which, at the 
deepest, was about four feet, and after a suitable address 
with prayer, Cahoon came forward and was immersed. 
Standing in the water Rigdon gave one of his most pow- 
erful exhortations. The assembly became greatly af- 
fected. As he proceeded he called for converts to step 
forward. They came through the crowd in rapid suc- 
cession to the number of thirty and were immersed, with 
no intermission on the part of Rigdon. 

"Mr. Card was apparently the most radical, stoical of 
men — of a clear, unexcitable temperament, with unor- 
thodox and vague religious ideas. While the exciting 
scene was transpiring below us in the valley and in the 
pool, the faces of the crowd expressing the most intense 
emotion, Mr. Card suddenly seized my arm and said, 
'Take me away.' Taking his arm I saw his face was so 
pale that he seemed to be about to faint. His frame 
trembled as we walked away and mounted our horses. 
We rode a mile toward Willoughby before a word was 
said. Rising the hill out of the valley, he seemed to re- 
cover and said, 'Mr. Barr, if you had not been there I 
certainly should have gone into- the water/ He said the 
impulse was irresistible." * 

Another description is from the pen of Professor Tur- 
ner: 

"During the fall and winter of '30 and '31, Kirtland 
was continually crowded with visitors, who came from all 
quarters to inquire after the 'New Religion.' About this 

. * Mather, Frederick S. : "The Early Days of Mormonism." Lippincott's Maga- 
zine, 1880, p. 206. Quoted by Kennedy: op. cit., pp. 92-94- 



222 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

time, as we are informed by credible historians and eye- 
witnesses, 'many in the church became very visionary and 
had divers operations of the Spirit.' They saw wonder- 
ful lights in the air and on the ground and had many 
miraculous visions and experiences. Their conduct grew 
more and more eccentric and absurd. Sometimes they 
imitated the grotesque antics of the wild Indian, in knock- 
ing down, 1 scalping and tearing out the bowels of his 
victim, thus anticipating the hour of their fancied mission 
to those lost sons of Jacob. 

"Again they ran into the fields, mounted upon stumps, 
and while absorbed in vision, and insensible to all around 
them, they plunged into the water of baptism or har- 
angued the imaginary multitudes by whom they thought 
they were surrounded. Some professed to receive letters 
direct from heaven, written on stones or parchment, in 
characters which they alone had power to translate, and 
vanished as soon as the work was performed. Others 
fell into a trance, and continued apparently lifeless for 
a long time, and woke only to relate the wonders they 
had seen touching the future glory of the saints, and the 
destruction of the unbelieving. Sometimes their faces, 
bodies and limbs were violently distorted and convulsed, 
until they fell prostrate on the ground. Indeed, it is re- 
ported by an eye-witness, that at first the laying hands 
on the heads of their converts to confer the gift of the 
Holy Spirit, generally produced an instantaneous prostra- 
tion of both body and mind, often followed by a wonder- 
ful gift of tongues, as was supposed, in Indian dialects; 
which, indeed, none could understand except by direct 
inspiration. Some, in imitation of the prophet, received 
magic stones, through which they professed to see and 
describe not only the persons but the dress and employ- 
ments of persons hundreds of miles distant." 2 

*Cf. the Shaker "Warring Gift." 

2 Turner: "Mormonism in All Ages." Pp. 27-8. See also Howe: op. cit., 
p. 103. 



THE MORMONS 223 

Scenes like this were numerous. The preachers were 
fervent, the people "eager for the supernatural," and the 
message definite and dogmatic. The Shakers, the Camp- 
bellites, and a host of others, including Dilks, the "Leath- 
erwood God," * who had declared himself as the Messiah, 
at a camp-meeting in Ohio in 1828 and who had been 
received by many with enthusiasm, had paved the way 
for Mormonism. The time was indeed at hand. 

It was in February, 1831, that the prophet and his fam- 
ily came to Kirtland. He had been busy with a new 
translation of the Old Testament. It was Smith's ability 
to translate the Scriptures from any language which to 
Sidney Rigdon's mind was one of the proofs of the super- 
natural origin of the prophet's mission. While busied 
thus — apparently without the aid of the Urim and Thum- 
mim, he received a revelation that Kirtland "is the place 
of gathering and from that place to the Pacific Ocean, 
God has declared to himself, not only in time, but through 
eternity, and he has given it to us and our children, not 
only while time lasts, but we shall have it again in eter- 
nity, as you will see by one of the commandments re- 
ceived day before yesterday." 2 

The expectations of the Latter Day Saints ran at this 
time very high. Martin Harris, who had contributed so 
liberally to the material welfare of the Golden Bible, went 
so far as to tell a hotel man at Kirtland — the proprietor 
of the Painesville tavern, in the bar room of which he 
had established himself as a preacher of the new gospel 
— that "all who accepted Mormonism and believed, would 
see Christ in fifteen years, and all who did not would 
be damned." 3 

1 Turner: op. cti., p. 98. 

2 Kennedy, J. H.: "The Early Days of Mormonism," etc. New York, 1888, 
p. 84. 

3 Quoted from the Painesville Telegraph of March 15, 1831, in Kennedy: 
op. cit., p. 88. 



224 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

On another occasion Harris is said to have prophe- 
sied two coming events, the first of which was 

"That Palmyra would be destroyed, and left utterly 
without inhabitants, before the year 1836. The other 
prediction was that before 1838 the Mormon Faith would 
so extensively prevail, that it would modify our national 
government, and there would be at that period no longer 
any occupant of the presidential chair of the United 
States." 1 

Smith now faced the very practical problem of author- 
ity, in view of the fact that Harris, Cowdery and others 
began to claim the gifts of revelation and prophecy and 
to exercise their gifts in such a manner as to suggest the 
possibility of conflict with the revelations which he him- 
self received. A timely revelation received at this junc- 
ture by Smith was of considerable help in doing away 
with the difficulty: 

"Behold, I say unto thee, Oliver, that it shall be given 
unto thee that thou shalt be heard by the church in all 
things whatsoever thou shalt teach them by the Comforter, 
concerning the revelations and commandments which I 
have given. But behold, verily, verily, I say unto thee, no 
one shall be appointed to receive revelations in this church 
excepting my servant Joseph Smith, Jr., for he receiveth 
them even as Moses, and thou shalt be obedient unto the 
things which I shall give unto him, even as Aaron to de- 
clare faithfully the commandments and the revelations, 
with power and authority over the church." 2 

On January 22, 1833, the gift of tongues appeared. 
From then on, especially in the making of proselytes, 
this gift played an important part in the history of Mor- 
monism. 

1 Clark: op. cit., p. 348. See also Howe: op. cit., pp. i4-i5^ 

2 Kennedy: op. cit., p. 89. 



THE MORMONS 225 

"Whether the languages now introduced differed ma- 
terially from those practised two or three years previous 
(and pronounced to be of the Devil) we have not been in- 
formed. It appears that this last device was all that was 
lacking to make the system perfect. They had long be- 
fore professed to be fully endowed with the power of 
healing all manner of diseases, discerning spirits, and 
casting out devils. But a succession of failures had ren- 
dered them rather stale, and given distrust to many of the 
faithful. A new expedient was therefore indispensably 
necessary, in order to revive the drooping spirits of the 
deluded, and at the same time, insure a new crop of con- 
verts. The scheme proved eminently successful. Hun- 
dreds were soon convinced of the truth of the whole, by 
hearing of and seeing the manner in which the 'tongues' 
were performed, although the trick would seem more 
susceptible of discovery than any previous one. This 
gift was not confined to the Elders and high priests, who 
in other respects were supposed to have a superabundant 
share of 'the spirit'; but nearly all the proselytes, both 
old and young, could show their faith by speaking with 
tongues. And it would appear from all the facts which 
we have been able to gather upon this subject, that if 
this gift were not supernaturally bestowed, it required but 
a few moments' instruction from a priest, to render his 
pupil expert in various dead languages, which could never 
be understood by man or beast, except a supernatural 
power was at the instant given to some one present to 
interpret it. They sometimes professed to believe that 
these 'tongues' were the same which were 'confounded' 
at the building of Babel. 

"Some curious particulars are related respecting these 
blasphemous practices by a Mr. Higby, who was eight 
months an Elder in the Mormon church. . . . 

"About the tenth of April following, R. Cahoon and 
D. Patton came again to the place. A meeting was 
called, and previous to the meeting, they said that some 



226 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

one would speak with tongues, before they left the place. 
Accordingly he set himself to work at that meeting to 
. verify his prophecy. During the meeting he said, 'Father 
H., if you will rise in the name of Jesus Christ, you can 
speak in Tongues.' He arose immediately, hesitated and 
said, 'my faith fails me — I have not faith enough.' Said 
Patton, 'you have — speak in the name of Jesus Christ — - 
make some sound as you list, without further thought, 
and God will make it a language.' The old gentleman, 
after considerable urging, spoke and made some sounds, 
which were pronounced to be a correct tongue. Several 
others spoke in a similar manner, and among them was 
myself. I spoke as I listed, not knowing what I said, 
yet it was declared to be a tongue. The sound of the 
words used by some in speaking in tongues, was a 
medium between talking and singing — and all, I am now 
convinced, a mere gibberish, spoken at random and with- 
out thought. 

"We had another meeting shortly after, at which there 
were present several others, besides those of the church 
— Cahoon spoke in unknown tongues, as he pretended, go- 
ing on at considerable length, which Patton interpreted. 
. . . The next time these men came among us, they gave 
us a rule for speaking in unknown tongues, and also for 
interpreting what was spoken by others. . . . The rule 
* ., . is this: 'rise upon your feet and look and lean on 
Christ; speak or make some sound; continue to make 
sounds of some kind, and the Lord will make a correct 
tongue or language of it.' " 

Howe further adds: 

"They would frequently sing in this gibberish, forming 
a tune as they proceeded. The same songs, they said, 
would be sung when the lost tribes appeared in Zion, in 
Missouri." x 

1 Howe: op. cit., pp. 132-135. See also Turner: op. cit., p. 28. Kennedy: 
op. cit., p. 43 et seq. Clark: op. cit., p. 328. 



THE MORMONS 227 

A description of one of the Kirtland meetings will 
convey some idea of the manner in which Mormon wor- 
ship in the inner circle was conducted. There were some 
fifteen or twenty Elders and High Priests present. The 
meeting was held in a small room. 

"After sundry exhortations by the priests, the Prophet 
himself arose and with much seeming earnestness, 
warned his followers to be zealous, faithful in their du- 
ties, saying Tt is our privilege to see God face to face — 
yes, (says he) I will prophesy unto you in the name of 
the Lord, that the day will come when no 7 man will be 
permitted to preach unless he has seen the Lord — people 
will ask each teacher, "have you seen the face of the 
Lord?" and if he say, nay, they will say, away with this 
fellow, for we will have a man to teach us that has seen 
the face of the Lord.' After a short pause he added, 'the 
Lord is willing we should see his glory to-day, and all 
that will exercise faith, shall see the Lord of Glory.' 
They then concluded to spend the day in fasting and 
prayer. Each one kept his seat with his eyes closed and 
his body inclined forward. Soon after Joseph says, 
'Sidney (Rigdon), have you seen the Lord?' He an- 
swered, T saw the image of a man pass before my face, 
whose locks were white, and whose countenance was ex- 
ceedingly fair, even surpassing all beauty that I ever 
beheld/ Then Joseph replied, T knew you had seen a 
vision, Sidney, but would have seen more, were it not 
for unbelief/ Sidney confessed that his faith was weak 
that morning. Hiram said he had seen nearly the same 
as Sidney, which was pronounced by Joseph to be the 
Redeemer of the world. Upon this, R. Cahoon fell upon 
his knees, holding his hands in an erect position. In fif- 
teen or twenty minutes he arose, and declared that he had 
seen the temple of Zion, filled with disciples, while the top 
was covered with the glory of the Lord, in the form of a 
cloud. Another one then placed himself in the same po- 



228 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

sition, but saw no vision, his faith being weak. Joseph 
next passed round the room, and laid his hand upon each 
one, and spoke as follows, as near as the narrator can 
recollect : 

" 'Ah, man oh son oh man ah ne commene en nolle goste 
en haben en glai hosanna hos anne esso milken, Jeremiah, 
Ezekiel, Nephi, Lehi, St. John/ etc., etc. After admin- 
istering the sacrament several of the brethren were called 
upon to arise and speak in tongues. Several of them per- 
formed with considerable applause. Our informant says 
he was at length called upon to speak or sing 'in tongues' 
at his own option ; preferring the latter mode, he sang, to 
the tune of 'Bruce's Address/ a combination of sounds 
which 'astonished all present/ 

"This gibberish for several months was practised al- 
most daily, while they were about their common avoca- 
tions, as well as when assembled for worship." * 

The speaking with tongues, however, sometimes had 
the opposite effect from that for which it was intended : 

"One apostate from the church at Nauvoo, in latter 
days, dates the first growth of doubt in his mind from 
attendance upon a meeting where this ceremony was be- 
ing performed. Having thorough acquaintance with the 
Choctaw language he suddenly arose and delivered a 
long address in that tongue and was followed by a brother 
Mormon, who gravely translated it into an account of the 
glories of the great temple then in course of construc- 
tion." 2 

Lieut. J. W. Gunnison, in writing of the gift of 
tongues among the Mormons makes the following state- 
ment : 

1 Howe: op. cit., pp. 135-6. 

2 Kennedy: op. cit., p. 117. 



L 



THE MORMONS 229 

"This is not the ancient gift, whereby one addressing 
a people speaking a different language from himself, was 
enabled to talk in their own words. It is, that persons 
among themselves in their enthusiastic meetings, shall be 
'moved by the Spirit' to utter any set of sounds in imi- 
tation of words, and it may be, words belonging to some 
Indian or other language. The speaker is to know noth- 
ing of the ideas expressed, but another, with the 'gift of 
interpretation of tongues/ can explain to the astonished 
audience all that has been said. Any sounds, of course, 
then, are a language known to the Lord. If one feels a 
desire to speak, and has difficulty to* bring words forth 
from the thoughts of his heart, or what the spirit is about 
to reveal through him, he must 'rise on his feet, lean in 
faith in Christ, and open his lips, utter a song in such 
cadence as he chooses, and the spirit of the Lord will give 
an interpreter, and make it a language." * 

He also relates the following frequently quoted inci- 
dent: 

"Sometimes a ludicrous scene occurs in their meetings, 
arising from over-wrought enthusiasm. One is related 
of a woman who sprang up and spoke 'in tongues' as 
follows — 'Melai, Meli, Melee,' which was immediately 
translated into the vernacular by a waggish young man, 
w r ho first observed that he felt 'the gift of interpretation 
of tongues' sorely pressing upon him, and that she said 
in unknown words to herself, 'my leg, my thigh, my knee.' 
For this he was called before the council; but he stoutly 
persisted in his 'interpretation' being by 'the spirit,' and 
they let him off with admonition." 2 

Rev. Peter Cartwright, the great Methodist "back- 
woods preacher," after telling the story of his meeting 
with Joseph Smith, Jr., continues : 

1 Gunnison, J. W. : "The Mormons or Latter Day Saints," etc. Philadelphia, 
1852, p. S3- 

2 Op. cit., p. 24. 



230 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

"I then gave him the following history of an encounter 
I had at a camp meeting in Morgan County, some time 
before with some of his Mormons, and assured him I 
could prove all I said by thousands that were present. 

"The camp meeting was numerously attended, and we 
had a good and gracious work of religion going on among 
the people. On Saturday there came some twenty or 
thirty Mormons to the meeting. During the intermission 
after the eleven o'clock sermon they collected in one cor- 
ner of the encampment, and began to sing, and they sang 
well. As fast as the people rose from their dinners they 
drew up to hear the singing, and the scattering crowd 
drew up until a large company surrounded them. I was 
busy regulating matters connected with the meeting. At 
length, according, I have no doubt, to a preconcerted plan, 
an old lady Mormon began to shout, and after shouting 
a while she swooned away and fell into the arms of her 
husband. The old man proclaimed that his wife had gone 
into a trance, and that when she came to she would speak 
in an unknown tongue, and that he would interpret. This 
proclamation produced considerable excitement, and the 
multitude crowded thick around. Presently the old lady 
arose and began to speak in an unknown tongue, sure 
enough. 

"Just then my attention was called to the matter. I 
saw in one moment that the whole manoeuvre was in- 
tended to bring the Mormons into notice, and break up 
the good of our meeting. I advanced instantly toward the 
crowd, and asked the people to give way and let me in 
to this old lady, who was then being held in the arms of 
her husband. I came right up to them, and took hold of 
her arm, and ordered her peremptorily to hush that gib- 
berish; that I would have no more of it; that it was pre- 
sumptuous and blasphemous nonsense. I stopped very 
suddenly her unknown tongue. She opened her eyes, 
took me by the hand, and said: 



THE MORMONS 231 

" 'My dear friend, I have a message directly from 
God to you.' 

"I stopped her short and said, 'I will have none of your 
messages. If God can speak through no better medium 
than an old, hypocritical, lying woman, I will hear noth- 
ing of it.' " x 

Burton, the traveller, gives us the following explana- 
tion of the unknown tongues in connection with an ac- 
count of his visit to Salt Lake City : 

"The gift of unknown tongues — which is made by 
some physiologists the result of an affection of the epi- 
gastric region, and by others an abnormal action of the 
organ of language — is now apparently rarer than before. 
Anti-Mormon writers thus imitate the 'blatant gibberish' 
which they derive directly from Irvingism : 'Eli, ele, elo, 
ela — come, come, como — reli, rele, rela, relo — sela, selo, 
sele, selum — vavo, vava, vavum — sero, seri, sera, 



We have noticed that in the early days of the tongues 
at Kirtland, the tongues were looked upon not merely 
as the language of inspiration, unknown and unknowable, 
but the tongues were frequently in a definite language. 
The matter of these tongues came up frequently in the 
course of the debates which were held from time to 
time by representatives of the Mormon church in her 
missionary activities. One instance is reported of a man 
who delivered a long harangue in the tongues, so long 
that the audience showed signs of weariness. Then one 
rose and interpreted as follows: "Except ye repent, ye 
shall be lost," whereupon one of the sons of Belial there 

1 Cartwright, Peter: Autobiography. Edited by W. P. Strickland. New 
York, 1857, pp. 343-4- 

2 Burton, Richard F.: "City of the Saints." London, 1862. Second Edition, 
P. 325. 



232 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

present remarked that all he could say about the tongues 
was that it was a very "wordy" language. 

In a debate held in France in 185 1 at Boulogne-sur-mer 
in which Elder Taylor defended the Mormon tenets 
against a Rev. Mr. Robertson, a Mr. Cleeve and a Mr. 
Cater, the last named stated that a Mormon teacher had 
told him 

"That he had a little servant girl who spoke Hebrew 
to a Jew through the gift of tongues, but unfortunately 
the Jew said there were two kinds of Hebrew, only one 
of which he understood, and the child spoke the kind he 
did not understand." 1 

We are told also that the high priest in the Endows 
ment House ceremony, which was a later development, 
"first prayed in an unknown tongue, and afterwards in 
English." 

On March 27, 1834, the first Mormon temple, costing 
about fifty thousand dollars, was dedicated at Kirtland, 
Ohio. In connection with the dedicatory services Sidney 
Rigdon is reported to have spoken in the tongues. 2 

We hear also on this occasion of Brigham Young, who : 

"Not to be too far behind Joseph in the manifesta- 
tions of spiritual powers, was favoured with an eloquent 
outburst of tongues, and made an address which neither 
he nor anyone else could understand, but which some 
brother made an attempt to translate. A pillar of fire was 
seen above the temple, and supernatural sounds heard in 
the air." 3 

We are further told that 

1 Pratt, Orson: "Series of Pamphlets." Liverpool, 1851. Last Pamphlet, p. 22. 
'"Doctrine and Covenants." Sees. 1 and 2, 43-51. 
3 Kennedy: op. cit., p. 152. 



THE MORMONS 233 

"During the evening- of the day they first met, Joseph 
called upon Brother Brigham to pray. While doing so, 
he spoke in tongues. The prophet declared that he spoke 
in the pure Adamic language.' ' 1 

Brigham Young had formerly been a painter and gla- 
zier. John P. Green, a relative of Young, also spoke in 
tongues, as did also, we are told, Smith himself. 

The success of the Mormons in Kirtland came to an 
abrupt end with the failure of the Kirtland Safety So- 
ciety Bank, which Smith and his associates had founded. 
The affairs of the bank at first appeared to be in a very 
prosperous condition. The general respect in which the 
Mormons were at one time held in Kirtland is shown in 
the fact, it has been pointed out, that the currency notes 
of the bank circulated very readily at par in that town 
and its immediate vicinity and as far east as Pittsburgh. 
It is believed that there was practically no reserve and 
no capital back of the bank. It is stated by Cyrus Small- 
ing of Kirtland that when: 

"The inhabitants holding their bills came to inquire 
into the Safety Society precious metals, the way that 
Smith contrived to deceive them was this : he had some 
one or two hundred boxes made, and gathered all the lead 
and shot that the village had, or that part of it that he 
controlled, and filled the boxes with .lead, shot, etc., and 
marked them, one thousand dollars each. Then, when 
they went to examine the vault, he had one box on a table 
partly filled for them to see, and when they proceeded to 
the vault, Smith told them that the church had two hun- 
dred thousand dollars in specie, and he opened one box 
and they saw that it was silver and they hefted a number 

1 From Pamphlet Entitled "Death of President Brigham Young." Salt Lake 
City, Utah, 1877. An extract copied from the obituary appearing in "The 
Deseret Evening News" of Aug. 30, 1877. 



234 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

and Smith told them that they contained specie. They 
were seemingly satisfied and went away for a few days." 1 

Finally, however, when a banker from Pittsburgh pre- 
sented a considerable quantity of the notes for redemp- 
tion, the prophet was unable to make settlement. Troubles 
increased, with the result that in January, 1838, Smith 
and Rigdon were both arrested. Both, however, escaped, 
and joined the settlement at Independence, Missouri, 
where had gathered already the majority of the Latter 
Day Saints. To Independence, another of the "stakes 
of Zion," Smith had been gradually transferring the 
people and the things that belonged to his church — pos- 
sibly anticipating the financial troubles at Kirtland. 

Coming to Missouri, however, meant only a temporary 
refuge for the Mormons. Even before Smith himself 
came there from Kirtland, persecutions had broken out 
and resolutions had been adopted prohibiting Mormons 
forever from settling in this "young and beautiful coun- 
try." These resolutions adopted by the citizens of Jackson 
County at a meeting held on the 20th day of July, 1833, 
further stated: 

"That those who fail to comply with the above requisi- 
tions, be referred to those of their brethren who have the 
gifts of unknown tongues, to inform them of the lot 
that awaits them." 2 

Various attempts were made by the Mormons at the 
making of a permanent settlement. In Davies County, 
they established a city called "Far West." At Far West, 
on the 20th day of April, 1838, the prophet received a 
revelation "making known the will of God concerning 

1 Clark: op. cit., p. 334- See also Smith, Lucy: op. cit., p. 210, and Hall, 
William: "The Abominations of Mormonism Exposed." Cincinnati, 1853; 
pp. 18-22. 

2 Howe: op. cit., p. 141. 



THE MORMONS 235 

the building up of this place, and of the Lord's House." 
In this revelation it was stated that the saints should "let 
the beginning be made on the 4th day of July next" 
(1838) and: 

"Verily I say unto you, let not my servant Joseph, 
neither my servant Sidney, neither my servant Hyrum, 
go in debt any more for the building of an house unto 
my name." * 

But before the end of the year 1839, the Mormons had 
been driven out of Missouri. Their next settlement was 
at a point on the Mississippi on the Illinois bank, which 
they named Nauvoo. Stenhouse writes thus of the new 
location : 

"The east bank of the Mississippi, forty miles above 
Quincy and twenty miles southwest of Burlington, Iowa, 
was the favoured spot. Here on a bend of the river, 
upon rising ground that commanded a magnificent view 
of the winding Mississippi, for many miles was to be the 
new home of the Saints. A group of huts and houses 
called 'Commerce/ was the place selected; but the name 
was an every-day word. The 'Reformed Egyptian' of 
the Book of Mormon supplied a better name — 'Nauvoo/ 
the beautiful." 2 

Here the Mormon cause prospered at first greatly and 
Smith enjoyed what might be looked upon as the best 
years of his career. The church and the city grew rapidly. 
As a result of the tireless preaching of Mormon mission- 
aries in Great Britain and in European countries, a con- 
stant stream of enthusiastic immigrants poured into the 
city until its population grew to be about fifteen thousand. 
Coupled with this growth in population there was in the 

1 "Doctrines and Covenants." Sec. 115, 10 and 13. 

'Stenhouse, Thomas G. H.: "Rocky Mountain Saints." New York, 1873; 
P. "3- 



236 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

early days a comparative freedom from persecution due 
to the fact that the people of Illinois looked upon the 
Mormons as having been wrongfully used by the Mis- 
sourians. By special state legislation unusual powers 
such as the right to organise the famous Nauvoo Legion 
were conferred upon Smith and his associates. 

Two important building projects were undertaken — - 
one that of a new temple, the other that of a hotel or 
boarding-house, to be called Nauvoo House, in which by 
revelation it was commanded that Smith and his family 
for all generations should be given a home. 

The temple, which was built of light grey limestone, 
was, when finally completed, 128 feet long, 88 feet broad, 
and 60 feet high. The towers were 200 feet high. It 
had thirty hewn pilasters which cost about three thousand 
dollars each. The whole cost of the building is said to 
have been a million dollars. The Baptismal Font sup- 
ported on twelve carved oxen was intended to be gilded. 
The cornerstone was laid April 6, 1841. The building 
was subsequently destroyed by fire. 

The Rev. Henry Caswell, M.A., who was in Nauvoo 
in April, 1842, tells us that he attended a Sunday morning 
service in a grove near the new temple, then in course 
of building. There was singing and then followed a 
long prayer by a man in a blue coat; then a sermon by 
a "stout, intemperate-looking man ... in a thick jacket 
of green baize. 

". . . Afterwards a tall, thin, New England Yankee, 
with a strong nasal twang and a provincial accent, rose up, 
and leaning forward on the railing, spoke for half an hour 
with great ease and volubility. He said that his office 
required him to speak of business. They were all aware 
that God had by special revelation appointed a committee 
of four persons, and had required them to build a house. 






THE MORMONS 237 

unto his name, such a one as his servant, Joseph, should 
show them. That the said house should be called the 
'Nauvoo House,' and should be a house of boarding: 
that the kings and nobles of the earth, and all weary 
travellers might lodge therein, while they should contem- 
plate the word of the Lord, and the corner-stone, which 
he had appointed for Zion. . . . But only a small amount 
of stock had hitherto been taken, and the committee ap- 
pointed by the Lord have had to go on borrowing and bor- 
rowing, until they can borrow no longer. In the mean- 
time the mechanics employed on the house want their pay, 
and the committee are not able to pay them.' , x 

It was while at Nauvoo that Smith began to take an 
active interest in American politics, addressing a ques- 
tionnaire to the candidates for the presidency, and finally 
announcing his own candidacy for that position. 

The famous revelation on polygamy was granted at 
Nauvoo. There are well substantiated rumours as to 
irregularities in the family life of Smith and some of his 
leading associates as far back as when he lived in Pal- 
myra. The same charges followed them to Kirtland, to 
Missouri, and to Nauvoo. The charge that Smith in 
Nauvoo maintained adulterous relationship with, or con- 
tracted spiritual marriages with between twenty and 
thirty different women rests upon very substantial ground, 
in spite of the interesting denial of this charge on the part 
of the Reorganized Church of the Latter Day Saints of 
Jesus Christ, the branch of the church founded by Smith's 
legitimate family and descendants. It was some years 
later — after the church had become firmly established in 
Ufah — that the system of polygamy and of spiritual 
wives became the publicly avowed doctrine of the church. 

1 Caswell, Henry: "The City of the Mormons, or Three Days at Nauvoo in 
1842." Second Edition. London, 1843; PP« *3-i4. 



238 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

Edmund De Leon, who visited Smith's home in Nau- 
voo, informs us that 

"At that time the Prophet had not publicly promul- 
gated the doctrine of polygamy, and professed to live 
with one wife only — 'Sister Emma/ as she was called, a 
gaunt, stern, hard-visaged woman of middle age. There 
were, however, several young women in the house, whom 
he termed his nieces, but who probably bore a closer re- 
lationship than was avowed at that time. The face of 
Sister Emma was not a happy one, and her treatment of 
her nieces that of an unhappy, soured and jealous wo 



A few pages further on in his autobiography, De Leon 
continues : 

"I even ventured when I became familiar with 'the 
Prophet,' to comment on the curious variety among his 
nieces and the want of any family resemblance among 
them. There was a sly twinkle in his prophetic eye, as 
he poked me in the ribs with his forefinger, and rebuked 
me, exclaiming, 'Oh, the carnal mind!' and I thought it 
discreet not to press the subject. 

"On another occasion he took us to see what he called 
the Mormon Temple, in imitation of Solomon's. But on 
my observing that the windows of the Temple bore a 
suspicious likeness to the embrasures of a fort — which 
the whole solid stone structure resembled, dominating as 
it did the Mississippi River — I again received a poke in 
the ribs and a repetition of my possessing 'a carnal 
mind.' " 2 

Nauvoo, the beautiful, the city of Smith's glory, was 
to be in like manner the scene of the beginning of the 
end. The "mysteries" of Mormonism, — particularly 

'De Leon, Edmund: "Thirty Years of My Life." London, 1890. Vol. I, 
pp. 55-6. 

3 Same: pp. 60-1. 



THE MORMONS 23£ 

those relating to the vita sexualis, the prosperity of the 
Mormons, their dishonesty, their confident and constant 
assertions of their own righteousness, all contributed to 
a growing opposition and hatred on the part of neighbour- 
ing gentile settlers, with the result that the prophet was 
finally lodged in Carthage jail, where he and his brother, 
Hyrum, were murdered by Missouri militiamen. The 
story of the final migration of the Mormons to Utah is 
well known. As in the Shakers, Mother Ann Lee found 
a successor to whom as much of the success of her church 
is due as to herself — Joseph Meacham, the organiser and 
theologian — so in Brigham Young, Mormonism found a 
leader whose astuteness and organising ability have done 
much to make Mormonism the power that it is to-day. 
But it is absolutely safe to predict that just as Shakerism 
gradually died out when it became no longer a haven 
of refuge for the sexually perverted, so when polygamy 
is actually stamped out and Utah is no longer the safe 
harbour for all to whom excess in venery is life's summum 
bonum, the day of Mormonism. will be done. 

"Joseph Smith, Jr., was at least six feet high, ,, ac- 
cording to P. H. Burnett, "well formed, and weighed 
about one hundred and eighty pounds. His appearance 
was not prepossessing and his conversational powers were 
not extraordinary. You could see at a glance that his 
education was very limited. He was an awkward but 
vehement speaker. In conversation he was slow, and 
used too many words to express his ideas, and would not 
generally go directly to a point. But, with all these draw- 
backs, he was much more than an ordinary man. He 
possessed the most indomitable perseverance, was a good 
judge of men, and deemed himself born to command, and 
he did command. His views were so strange and striking, 
and his manner was so earnest, and apparently so candid, 
that you could not but be interested. . . . He had the 



240 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

capacity for discussing a subject in different aspects, and 
for proposing many original views, even of ordinary mat- 
ters. His illustrations were his own. He had great in- 
fluence over others. ... In the short space of five days 
he had managed so to mollify his enemies that he could 
go unprotected among them without the slightest dan- 
ger." 1 

The characteristics which seem most apparent in Smith 
are his shrewd common sense and his ability to handle 
men. We are indebted once again to De Leon for the 
following incident which probably occurred only about 
six weeks before Smith was assassinated : 

"We were sitting with him on the public green, where 
the people were amusing themselves with rustic sports, 
and exhibitions of strength, when a man came up and 
asked permission to use the courthouse for an exhibition 
of strength that night. 

" 'Do you want the people to pay you for seeing them? , 
asked the Prophet. 'Yes,' was the answer. 'Do you know 
I never allow public exhibitions for pay?' asked the 
Prophet. The man muttered that this was not a show. 
'Are you so much stronger than other people?' inquired 
the Prophet. The man replied in the affirmative. 'Well, 
then,' repeated the Prophet, 'if you can throw me right 
here, in a wrestle on the green, I will give you permis- 
sion.' The man looked anxiously at the girth and bulk 
of the head of the Mormon Faith, felt the muscles of his 
arm, and declined the proposition. Then arose the 
Prophet in great wrath, saying, 'You impostor ! if you 
don't leave this place right away, I will make the boys 
duck you in the lake yonder.' And the man departed 
without further orders." 2 

1 Burnett, P. H. : "Recollections and Opinions of an Old Pioneer." New 
York, 1880; pp. 66-7. 

2 De Leon: op. cit., Vol. I, pp. 58-9. 



THE MORMONS 241 

Smith's lack of education has often been noted. In 
contrast to this lack of the sort of knowledge which 
schooling brings, stands out his claim, accepted by Mor- 
monism, to a knowledge by supernatural means, of all 
languages. 

The Rev. Mr. Caswell tells us the now classic story of 
his own experience with the prophet. In April, 1842, 
he went on business to St. Louis, Missouri. While there 
it occurred to him that it would be of interest to visit the 
"City of the Saints." With him he took a "venerable 
Greek manuscript of the Psalter." We will now let 
Mr. Caswell tell his own story : 

"Having arrived at the city, I passed along a straggling 
street of considerable length, bordering on the strand. 
Perceiving a respectable looking store (or shop), I en- 
tered it, and began to converse with the storekeeper. I 
mentioned that I had been informed that Mr. Smith 
possessed some remarkable Egyptian curiosities, which 
I wished to see. I added that, if Mr. Smith could be in- 
duced to show me his treasure, I would show him in 
return a very wonderful book which had lately come into' 
my possession. The storekeeper informed me that Mr. 
Smith was absent, having gone to Carthage that morning ; 
but that he would return about nine o'clock in the even- 
ing. He promised to obtain for me admission to the 
curiosities, and begged to be permitted to see the wonder- 
ful book. I accordingly unfolded it from the many 
wrappers in which I had enveloped it, and in the presence 
of the storekeeper and many astonished spectators, whom 
the rumours of the arrival of a strange book had col- 
lected, I produced to view the covers of worm-eaten oak, 
its discoloured parchments, and its mysterious characters. 
Surprise was depicted on the countenances of all present, 
and after a long silence one person wiser than his fellows, 
declared that he knew it to be a revelation from the 



242 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

Lord, and that probably it was one of the lost books of 
the Bible providentially recovered. Looking- at me with 
a patronizing air, he assured me that I had brought it to 
the right place to get it interpreted, for that none on 
earth but the Lord's Prophet could explain it, or unfold 
its real antiquity and value. 'Oh,' I replied, 'I am going 
to England next week, and doubtless I shall find some 
learned man in one of the universities who can expound 
it/ To this he answered with a sneer, that the Lord had 
chosen the weak things of the world to confound the 
mighty, that he had made foolish the wisdom of this 
world, and that I ought to thank Providence for having 
brought me to Nauvoo, where the hidden things of dark- 
ness could be revealed by divine power/' 1 

After some further conversation, Mr. Caswell states 
that he was led behind the store in which they were talk- 
ing to a room : 

"on the door of which was an inscription to the following 
effect: 'Office of Joseph Smith, President of the Church 
of Latter Day Saints.' Having introduced me, together 
with several Mormons, to this sanctum* sanctorum., he 
locked the door behind him, and proceeded to what ap- 
peared to be a small chest of drawers. From this he 
drew forth a number of glazed slides, like picture frames, 
containing sheets of papyrus, with Egyptian inscriptions 
and hieroglyphics. These had been unrolled from four 
mummies, which the Prophet had purchased at a cost of 
twenty-four hundred dollars. By some inexplicable 
mode, as the storekeeper informed me, Mr. Smith had 
discovered that these sheets contained the writings- of 
Abraham written with his own hand while in Egypt. 
Pointing to the figure of a man lying on a table, he said, 
'That is the picture of Abraham on the point of being 
sacrificed. The man standing by him with a drawn knife 

1 Caswell: op. cit., pp. 20-1. 



THE MORMONS 243 

is an idolatrous priest of the Egyptians. Abraham prayed 
to God, who immediately unloosed his bonds and de- 
livered him/ Turning to another of the drawers, and 
pointing to a hieroglyphic representation, one of the Mor- 
mons said, 'Mr. Smith informs us that this picture is 
an emblem of redemption. Do you see those four little 
figures ? Well, those are the four quarters of the Earth. 
And do you see that big dog looking at the four figures ? 
This is the old Devil desiring to devour the four quarters 
of the Earth. Look at this person keeping back the big 
dog. That is Christ keeping the devil from devouring 
the four quarters of the earth. Look down this way. 
This figure near the side is Jacob, and those are his two 
wives. Now do you see those steps ?' 'What/ I replied, 
'do you mean those stripes across the dress of one of 
Jacob's wives ?' 'Yes/ he said, 'that is Jacob's ladder.' " * 

It was not until the next day that the Rev. Mr. Caswell 
met the prophet himself. But let Mr. Caswell continue 
the story himself : 

"I met Joseph Smith at a short distance from his 
dwelling, and was regularly introduced to him by the 
storekeeper. I had the honour of an interview with him 
who is a Prophet, a Seer, a Merchant, a 'Revelator/ a 
President, an Elder, an Editor, and the Lieutenant-Gen- 
eral of the 'Nauvoo Legion/ He is a coarse, plebeian 
sensual person in aspect, and his countenance exhibits a 
curious mixture of the knave and clown. His hands 
are large and fat, and on one of his fingers, he wears a 
massive gold ring, upon which I saw an inscription. His 
eyes appear deficient in that open and straightforward 
expression which often characterizes an honest man. His 
dress was of coarse country manufacture, and his white 
hat was enveloped by a piece of black crape as a sign 
of mourning for his deceased brother, Don Carlos Smith, 

1 Caswell: op. cit., pp. 22-3. 



244 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

the late editor of the 'Times and Seasons/ His age is 
about thirty-seven. He led the way to his house, ac- 
companied by many elders, preachers and other Mormon 
dignitaries. On entering the house, chairs were provided 
for the prophet and myself, while the curious and gaping 
spectators remained standing. I handed the book to the 
prophet, and begged him to explain its contents. He 
asked me if I had any idea of its meaning. I replied, that 
I believed it to be a Greek Psalter, but that I should like 
to hear his opinion. 'No/ he said, 'it ain't Greek at all, 
except, perhaps, a few words. What ain't Greek is 
Egyptian ; and what ain't Egyptian is Greek. This book 
is very valuable. It is a dictionary of Egyptian Hiero- 
glyphics/ Pointing to the capital letters at the commence- 
ment of each verse, he said : 'Them figures is Egyptian 
hieroglyphics; and them which follows, is the interpre- 
tation of the hieroglyphics, written in the reformed Egyp- 
tian. Them characters is like the letters that was engraved 
on the golden plates.' " 1 

Mr. Caswell continues his narrative by stating that the 
prophet, after remarking "That book ain't of no use to 
you, you don't understand it," took him into the office 
where he had been the previous day. 

"He produced the glass frames, which I had seen on 
the previous day, but he did not appear very forward 
to explain the figures. I pointed to a particular hiero- 
glyphic, and requested him to expound its meaning. No 
answer being returned, I looked up, and behold ! the pro- 
phet had disappeared." 2 

Mr. Caswell's reference to the Egyptian mummies 
brings us to another remarkable achievement of the pro- 
phet's in the realm of languages — his translation of the 

1 Caswell: op. cit., pp. 35-6. 

2 Same: p. 37. 



THE MORMONS 245 

Book of Abraham. While the Mormons were at Kirt- 
land, a Mr. M. H. Chandler came to town to exhibit 
some Egyptian mummies. These mummies, he said, his 
uncle had secured with much personal danger, "in one 
of the catacombs near the city of Thebes in Egypt, in 
the year 1831. . . . In his will he left these valued re- 
mains of Egyptian art to his nephew." Attached to two 
of the bodies were rolls of linen in which were enclosed 
rolls of papyrus, on which were Egyptian hieroglyphics. 
Mr. Chandler came to Kirtland with his mummies on 
July 3, 1835. The prophet in writing afterwards about 
the events says that a few days later : 

"Some of the saints purchased the mummies and papy- 
rus, and I with W. W. Phelps and O. Cowdery as scribes, 
commenced the translation of some of the characters or 
hieroglyphics, and much to our joy found that one of the 
rolls contained the writings of Abraham, another of the 
writings of Joseph the Egyptian." 1 

These mummies were held in high esteem by Smith 
and his followers. So highly were they valued that ac- 
cording to Lucy Smith, an effort was made in Kirtland 
to attach them for the prophet's debts. 

The late Protestant Episcopal Bishop of Utah, the 
Rt. Rev. F. S. Spalding, D.D., took the trouble to have 
the hieroglyphics which the prophet translated, submit- 
ted recently to prominent Egyptologists both in this 
country and abroad, and published the results in a pam- 
phlet called "Joseph Smith, Jr., as a Translator." 2 The 
consensus of scholarly opinion in the matter was that the 
Prophet, Seer and Revelator, knew absolutely nothing 
about the language which he pretended to translate. 

1 Reynolds, George: "The Book of Abraham," etc. Salt Lake City, Utah, 
1879. 

3 Spalding, F. S.: "Joseph Smith, Jr., as a Translator." Salt Lake City, 
Utah, 1912. 



246 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

Smith appeared to have a fondness for unusual words, 
as well as a great knowledge of the languages. Profes- 
sor Riley comments : 

"The form which the law of the Lord ultimately took 
reads like a page from Gulliver's Travels; it is worth 
quoting, if only to show that the fancy of the Latter-day 
prophet was as weird as the mad dean's Kingdom of La- 
puta: 

" 'Revelation given April 23d, 1834, to Enoch (Joseph 
Smith, Jun.), concerning the order of the church, for the 
benefit of the poor. Let my servant Pelagoram (Sidney 
Rigdon) have appointed unto him the place where he now 
resides, and the lot of Tahhanes (the tannery) for the 
stewardship, for his support while he is laboring in my 
vineyard, even as I will when I shall commend him; 

" 'And let my servant Mahemson (Martin Harris) de- 
vote his moneys for the proclaiming of my words, ac- 
cording as my servant Gazelam (Joseph Smith, Jr.) shall 
direct. 

" 'And let my servant Olihah (Oliver Cowdery) have 
the lot which is set off joining the house, which is to be 
for the Laneshine-house (printing office), which is lot 
number one, and also the lot upon which his father re- 
sides. 

" 'After you are organized, you shall be called the 
United Order of the Stake of Zion, the city of Shinehah 
(Kirtland).'" 1 

Swartzel, in his Journal under date of June II, 1838, 
tells his story of the naming of one of the Stakes of 
Zion. This was a place about twenty miles from Far 
West, located on the north side of the Grand River, in 
Davies County, Missouri. It bore, prior to the prophet's 
revelation, the plebeian name "Spring Hill." 

1 Riley: op. cit., pp. 311-12. 



THE MORMONS 247 

"Brothers Joseph Smith, Martin Harris and myself," 
writes Swartzell, "went to digging a spring and walling 
it in. . . ." 

After prayer that : 

"The spring might everlastingly send forth an abund- 
ance of good water/' (in two or three days the spring 
began to fail, and in about one week it went entirely dry) 
"I observed to Joseph Smith that this city should have a 
new name. Brother Joseph placed his back against a 
small shady tree near the spring, and then said, 'we shall 
alter the name of this stake' (every city being called a 
stake), and looking towards heaven for a short time, said, 
'It does not take me long to get a revelation from heaven, 
and this stake, or city, shall be called Adam-on-Diammon/ 
He assigned as a reason for calling it so, that there was 
no place by that name under heaven." * 

Swartzell's orthography, at least as far as names given 
by inspiration is concerned, may have been a trifle ir- 
regular, or there may have been a great variety of spell- 
ings for this important name, for we find it also appear- 
ing, inter alia, as "Adam Ondi Ahman," 2 and "Adam-on- 
Diahmon." 3 

The translation of these names is given as 4 "The valley 
of God in which Adam blessed his children," and the 
place thus named is "said to be the identical spot where 
Adam and Eve first sought refuge after their expulsion 
from Eden." 

When Swartzell was initiated into what he calls the 

1 Swartzell, William: "Mormonism Exposed, being a Journal of a Residence 
in Missouri from the 28th of May to the 20th of August," etc. Pekin, O., 
1840; pp. 11-12. 

2 Stenhouse: op. cit., p. 79. 

3 Bennett, John C. : "The History of the Saints; or an Expose of Joe Smith 
and Mormonism." Boston, 1842; p. 319. 

* Young, Ann Eliza: "Wife No. 19," etc. Hartford, 1876; p. 47. See also 
Howe: op. cit., p. 199. 



248 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

"Daranites," 1 he tells us, under date of July 21, 1838, 
that after various ceremonies and the giving of the signs : 

"He (the high priest) then gave us the pass-word — 
which was to be spoken at the moment of giving the hand 
of fellowship — Who be you?' Answer — 'Anamaf " 

This word "anama," he further informs us, is, by- 
interpretation, a "friend." 

The remarkable etymological origin of the word "Mor- 
mon" is another familiar subject for interest and notice. 
It is said that it was W. W. Phelps who evolved this 
learned etymology, which is stated by Smith to be as 
follows : 

"Before I give a definition, however, to the word, let 
me say, that the Bible, in its widest sense, means good; 
for the Saviour says, according to the Gospel of John, ( l 
am the Good Shepherd' ; and it will not be beyond the 
common use of terms to say that good is among the most 
important in use, and though known by various names 
in different languages, still the meaning is the same, and 
is ever in opposition to bad. We say from the Saxon, 
good; the Dane, god; the Goths, goda; the German, gut; 
the Dutch, goed; the Latin, bonus; the Greek, Kalos; 
the Hebrew, tob; and the Egyptian, mon. Hence, with 
the addition of more, or the contraction mor, we have the 
word Mormon, which means literally more good. 

"Yours, 

"Joseph Smith." 

"Nauvoo, May 19, 1841." 2 

Burton, 3 who spent a short time in the "City of the 
Saints," gives us an account of the Deseret 4 alphabet to 

1 Danites. For Danites see Hall: op. cit., pp. 30-1; 65-6-7. 
3 Hyde, John, Jr.: "Mormonism." New York, 1857; pp. 273-4. Cf. Sten- 
house: op. cit., p. 421 (footnote). 
3 Op. cit., p. 419. 
* By interpretation, "The Land of the Honey-Bee." 



THE MORMONS 249 

be used in the land of promise. Evidently the linguistic 
fondness of the saints was of a persistent nature, some- 
thing possibly of the "Esperanto" sort recently perpe- 
trated upon the kindly general public. 

Much might be said about Mormon prophecies, about 
Mormon miracles, and about Mormon theology. The 
same characteristics which we have seen appear in all the 
sects which we have been studying, in respect to the char- 
ismata appear in Mormonism. The miracles, when not 
actually fraud, are at least coincidences capable of very 
simple explanations. Like the miracles of the French 
prophets, they are substantiated only by interested parties. 
The theology, of later development, is of interest to those 
who care to study theology. It will be found to be char- 
acterised by an exceedingly materialistic millennial ten- 
dency. In that theology, polygamy takes on an escha- 
tological aspect which makes it logical for a woman to 
consent to becoming a party to the relationship. But 
when all is said that can be said in favour of Mormonism, 
when all the kindly words that charity can command have 
been uttered, it still remains that, ethically speaking, Mor- 
monism is no purer than its source. He that is filthy is 
filthy still. 



CHAPTER VIII 

PHYSIOLOGICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF 
THE GIFT 

In our review of some of the historic appearances of 
the gift of tongues, certain facts of a physiological and of 
a psychological nature have forced themselves upon our 
attention. 

We have noticed that the manifestation of the tongues 
has always begun with an individual in whom the presence 
of some disease can definitely be traced. The indisputable 
nature of this fact is obvious if we turn our attention 
toward the leading characters in the three sects which 
we have discussed at length, the Shakers, the Irvingites 
and the Mormons. 

The physiological life of Mother Ann of the Shakers 
would afford an interesting study for those who are 
interested in the bodily condition of the semi-insane. 
Mention, however, should be made of her fastings and 
her ability to fast, her hallucinations, her bloody sweats, 
her difficulties in childbirth, the early deaths of all her 
children, and her poverty — conditions all of which point 
in the direction of an unstable nervous system. When 
we add to these considerations the fact of the statement 
made repeatedly about her that she had acted "like a 
drunken squaw," that she was insensible to fatigue in 
dancing, and a multitude of similar facts, we cannot but 
be convinced that we are dealing not with spirituality 
per se, but with disease. 

We are to remember that Edward Irving never pro- 

250 



ASPECTS OF THE GIFT 251 

fessed to have the gift of tongues. We are to remember 
further that among the Irvingites the gift of tongues 
began first with the Macdonalds and Mary Campbell, 
and that Margaret Macdonald, her brothers, and Mary 
Campbell were tubercular. We have the further right to 
infer from the case of Isabella Campbell and Story's ac- 
count of Mary Campbell and her family, that Mary 
Campbell was of the hysterical type. We may remind 
ourselves also in passing that the daughter of Robert 
Baxter was subject to epileptic seizures. 

Professor Riley has pointed out the pathological ele- 
ments which are readily discernible in the life of Joseph 
Smith, Jr., the Mormon prophet. The shiftlessness and 
vagabondage of his father, the diseased blood of the 
Macks on his mother's side, do not constitute the 
sort of ancestry from which we might expect health — 
bodily or mental — to spring. It is well also to call to 
mind the part which the Rev. Sidney Rigdon played in 
the development of Mormon ecstacy, and to take into 
account the fact that : 

"He brought to his aid (in preaching while still a 
Campbellite preacher) the eccentric and grotesque work- 
ings of a nervous and enthusiastic temperament, which 
at times threw him into spasms and swoonings, similar 
to those nervous agitations which have so often prevailed, 
not only in individual instances, but raged as epidemics 
both in and out of the churches. These nervous fits he 
interpreted into the agony of the Holy Spirit as multi- 
tudes had done before him, and contended that the mir- 
aculous spiritual gifts of the apostolic age were now 
about to be restored to the church." x 

Attention must also be called to the fact that the 
tongues never occur as a solitary unusual motor phe- 

1 Turner: op. cit., pp. 24-5. 



252 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

nomenon regarded as having a supernatural origin. If 
we find the gift of tongues, we find also the gift of the 
interpretation of tongues, the gift of miracles, or the 
gift of prophesying, together with a great number of 
"exercises" of a motor nature. Laying aside the question 
of the interpretation of tongues, which may be dismissed 
as a case either of downright fraud, or possibly of patho- 
logical lying, 1 we deal invariably in the cases of the sub- 
jects of the gifts and exercises with persons of diseased 
nervous systems. 

The "falling exercise" was one of the phenomena of 
the Kentucky Revival as well as of the tongues people. 
Those who were "stricken of the Lord" lay on the ground 
as though dead. It is said that the numbers of those 
stricken ran into the hundreds. The persons thus sig- 
nally afflicted lay on the ground sometimes for hours 
before regaining consciousness. Similar conditions could 
be observed among the Shakers in connection with their 
worship. The spectacle of men and women lying insen- 
sible on the floor was among them no unusual occurrence. 

In connection with the Shakers a description has al- 
ready been given of the "jerks," another of the Kentucky 
Revival phenomena. The literature on the Kentucky 
Revival is rather meagre. It is interesting, however, to 
find among the accounts of that excitement the observa- 
tions of a young graduate in medicine who discusses 2 
the phenomena from the point of view of science and 
points out its pathological nature. 

The "whirling gift" of the Shakers, which was the 
process of spinning like a top, comes to the attention of 
the neurologist under the guise of dervish dancing, as 

J Healy, William, and Healy, M. T.: "Pathological Lying, Accusation and 
Swindling." Boston, 19 15. . 

2 Robertson, Felix: "Essay on Chorea Sancti Viti; Inaugural Dissertation." 
Philadelphia, 1805. 



ASPECTS OF THE GIFT 253 

does also the state known among the Shakers as the 
"dumb devils" under the form of hysterical mutism. 

In the "barks" of the Kentucky Revival and the "mor- 
tification gifts" of the Shakers, which included the imi- 
tation of the cries of animals, we confront a possible ata- 
vistic as well as a pathological condition. The tendency 
of nervous disturbances to cause a deepening of the 
voice such as was in evidence in the case of the "barks" 
is well known. The primitive nature of the imitation of 
the cries of animals in connection with religious worship 
is also a fact which demands consideration. 

All through the study of the tongues movement the 
fact of tactile anaesthesia of various degrees existing 
among those who were looked upon as the objects of 
various operations of the spirit of God or of Satan, has 
been constantly recurring. Particularly is this evident 
when we deal with the subject of witchcraft, where we 
find the physiological conditions of the tongues without 
the nomenclature. The unhappy part which tactile anaes- 
thesia played in the annals of witchcraft, however, is only 
one of the many parts played in what becomes the tragedy 
of life when ignorance and superstition are the masters. 

The "laughing gift" of the Shakers is not far removed 
from the camp meeting state of "getting happy," and in 
either case we are not far removed from a mild hysteria. 
The hearing of voices, the seeing of visions, the feeling 
of the separation of the soul from the body, are all alike 
stigmata of degeneration. 

The atavistic nature of the tongues phenomena is an- 
other aspect of the case which merits attention. We have 
noticed the primitive nature of the love of words viewed 
merely as sounds, and we have seen that love of words 
associated with religious ideas. In the case of the tongues 
people we are probably facing the reappearance of an 



254 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

idea still current among primitive peoples that there is 
a religious value and power per se in a word or words. 

The falling and crying, the grimaces and the dances, 
together with the stress upon sex either in a positive or a 
negative fashion, as well as the frequent imitation of the 
cries of animals, are all primitive elements which still 
linger among the tongues people. 

The difficulty of studying the tongues from the point 
of view of speech is greatly increased by the fact that 
very few of the cases of tongues with which we meet, 
are spontaneous. The elements of imitation and simula- 
tion enter so largely into the utterances of the tongues 
that it is exceedingly difficult to pass judgment directly 
upon the nature of the phenomena. We are. obliged to 
recognise the fact, however, that the possibility of speak- 
ing short, broken sentences or expressing unmeaning 
sounds and words as the result of an inner inexplicable 
compulsion, which compulsion it is possible to identify 
with the Spirit of God must be taken into serious con- 
sideration. But in reckoning with such a possibility, we 
are obliged to note that such a condition coexists only 
with some disturbance in the mental life. The torrent of 
words, both in the tongues and in prophecy, as well as the 
majesty of tone ascribed to those who thus speak, are also 
fully consonant with a theory of mental abnormality and 
pathological physiology. 

A factor of a psychological nature which cannot be 
ignored as pointing towards a physiological condition 
which is fundamentally pathological, as the basis of the 
tongues movement is the obvious disturbance in the 
vita sexualis of the tongues people. The case appears in 
clearest outlines among the Shakers, although the fact 
that the most characteristic doctrine of Mormonism is 
related to the vita sexualis is evidence in point. 



ASPECTS OF THE GIFT 255 

A study of primitive Shakerism from the point of 
view of the sexual life brings to light the fact of the 
existence of such sexual perversions as may well be pre- 
sumed to have their origin in physiological conditions of 
a pathological nature. Just how far the enforcement of 
celibacy, and just how far definitely pathological con- 
ditions are responsible for Shaker exercises cannot be 
determined. But this much is certain — that underneath 
the great majority of the Shaker forms of worship, par- 
ticularly the greater part of the gifts, there is a definitely 
perverse sexual tendency. That the gifts for dancing 
naked, for going into the water together naked, and cer- 
tain mortification gifts can be classified under the head 
of exhibitionism is obvious. In John Farrington's cry of 
"Love," "More Love," 1 in Father William's "The smiting 
of the righteous is like precious ointment," 2 we are un- 
doubtedly dealing with the presence of a masochistic 
tendency, while in the practice of flagellation, we meet 
with the opposite, sadism. 

In the Shakers, as well as in other people who- have 
taught the ideal of celibacy and sought to repress the 
sexual instinct, we find invariably that we hear most 
about and we deal most frequently with the problems of 
sex. It is always in the foreground. In the early Shaker 
discourses, there are noticeable references to sex unclean- 
ness, effeminacy, onanism, and to other terms having to 
deal with the sexual life. In Shaker worship sexual 
ideas are everywhere present. The "hugging" gift and 
the "warring" gift are not in this connection to be passed 
over. Nor are we to ignore the sexual connotation of 
dancm and the possibility of the attaining of a diffused 
orgasm through this medium. 

It is in the Shakers that the evidences of sexual per- 

1 "Testimonies" : XXII:io-ii (p. 155). 
8 Brown: op. cit., p. 210. 



256 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

version are most clear. But the part which the sexual 
impulse has played in Mormonism, among the French 
Prophets, in witchcraft and, in particular, in connection 
with the devils of Loudun, is in no sense to be ignored. 

Religion has always been a fertile field for the expres- 
sion of egomania. In Christianity and its various aber- 
rations and perversions the indefinite nature of the doc- 
trine of the third person of the Trinity has afforded a 
by no- means neglected opportunity for the claiming by 
individuals of particular spiritual excellence due to their 
special personal relation to the Holy Ghost. How much 
this is a well intentioned pious delusion, and how much 
this state of mind is akin to egomania involves a very 
nice distinction. But there is certainly every evidence of 
egomania in the statements attributed to Mother Ann. 

Thus: 

"To John Farrington, a young man who came to her 
and confessed his sins and to whom she told still other 
things about himself, she said, 'Can you now go to Leba- 
non and testify that you have found a woman that told 
you all things that you have ever done ? And is not this 
the Christ?' He answered, 'Yea, truly I can.' " 

"Morrell Baker, senr., visited the Church at Watervliet, 
in 1784, and being under great impression of mind con- 
cerning Mother's calling, he spoke to her and said, 'Thou 
art the Bride, the Lamb's Wife!' She answered, 'Thou 
hast rightly said : for so I am ! Christ is my husband. I 
see now many souls who have left the body, and have 
come to hear the gospel ! I now hear the hosts of heaven, 
singing praises to God!' " * 

Reference has already been made to the astounding 
conceit of Joseph Smith, Jr. One fault of Edward 
Irving was his tendency to confuse his own ideas with 

1 "Testimonies" : XXIII : 1 7. 



ASPECTS OF THE GIFT 257 

the leadings of the Spirit of God. The claims and pre- 
sumptions of the prophets and the gifted among the 
Irvingites, particularly in reference to their practical 
exclusion of Irving from the leadership and councils of 
the church, may also well be called to mind. 

That we are dealing with pathological lying in many 
of the cases which have come under our observation is 
sufficiently obvious. It is not to be doubted that either 
Mother Ann or Joseph Smith, Jr., believed, at least after 
a time, in what they said about themselves and about 
their revelations. The general shiftlessness of the Smith 
family, for example, and their irregular financial condi- 
tion, together with the incident of the Kirtland Bank, 
are further evidences of those characteristics which, to- 
gether with sexual irregularity, indicate rather clearly a 
pathological condition existing on the part of the founder 
of Mormonism. 

The psychological factors which may in like manner 
be looked upon as responsible for the appearance of the 
tongues are psychological factors which have greater 
weight in the determining of the conduct of persons who 
are abnormal or slightly abnormal than in determining* 
the conduct of those who approach normality more 
nearly. If we assume as our starting point the involun- 
tary ejaculation of broken fragments of speech by persons 
of the hysteroid type — which utterances are at once seized 
upon as modern recurrences of the apostolic phenomena, 
we have found the undoubted physiological beginnings of 
the gift. The tracing of its spread is a very simple 
matter. 

Men are "eager for the supernatural. " The ordinary 
way of morality as a school for spiritual development is 
often irksome. The bringing in of the Kingdom of God 
through patient toil is not an undertaking which com- 



258 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

mends itself to many minds. Cataclysmic religion is far 
more interesting. Voices, visions and miracles are a 
much more simple and attractive method of solving the 
problems of life than is to be found along the bare and 
sometimes unattractive path of duty. The lure of the 
presence of the supernatural is a will-o'-the-wisp that 
many minds follow gladly, never stopping to investigate 
claims or pretensions as to the reality of the supernatural. 
It is too much for some men to work. They must wait 
for God. In fact, they would rather wait than work. 

When men thus eager for the presence of the super- 
natural and anxious to see some new signs of the presence 
of the Spirit of God in life find a religious and pious 
man uttering incoherent sounds, it is obviously possible 
to interpret such sounds as "unknown tongues,'' and to 
welcome the phenomenon as the gift of tongues. 

The endowment of a man with this apostolic gift 
naturally marks him out as more highly favoured spirit- 
ually than his fellows. It is a mark of distinction. We 
have noticed how frequently the fact of the gift has 
been used in the effort to make proselytes by the tongues 
people, and how it has been held up as the proof -positive 
of the apostolic nature of the age and of the peculiar 
excellence spiritually of the sect concerned. Even re- 
ligious people are not utterly unsusceptible to the prompt- 
ings of the spirit of vanity. Indeed, it is altogether 
possible and reasonable to suggest that the doctrine of 
sanctification as it is sometimes presented, the doctrine 
of the second blessing and the doctrine of the inner light, 
all have a dangerous relation to vanity and to a species 
of selfishness. The appearance of the tongues may be 
traced first to disease, second to an eager expectancy of 
the supernatural, and in the third place to* vanity and the 
desire for spiritual distinction. 



ASPECTS OF THE GIFT 259 

Imitation is still another factor in the tongues. 
While there do exist those who utter, under the influence 
of an expulsive idea, which cannot be resisted, discon- 
nected sounds and words, the number of such persons is 
rare. Beginning with the French Prophets, it is very 
easy to trace the factor of imitation in the development 
of the tongues movement. In fact, tracing the love of 
words and sounds and the speaking in unknown or un- 
usual languages under the influence of magic or witch- 
craft, and taking into consideration the cultural standing 
of the French Prophets, we can readily understand how 
the French Prophets came first to know of the tongues. 
Or we can very readily suppose that under the conditions 
of distress and persecution under which the Camisards 
lived, spontaneous manifestations of the tongues might 
have occurred. From the French Prophets to the 
Shakers the line of descent indicates clearly the fact or 
at least the possibility of imitation. The origin of the 
tongues among the Mormons can very readily be traced 
to the Shakers. The home of Joseph Smith, Jr., and the 
country of the Shakers were in the same neighbourhood. 
The origin of the gift among the Irvingites may be at- 
tributed to the influence of the French Prophets. Mary 
Campbell first spoke in the tongues under the influence of 
the suggestions involved in Scott's preaching. The 
Macdonalds followed the leading of Mary Campbell. 
The American tongues people of to-day are apparently 
Irvingite in their origin. 

The honour and the respect with which the gifted have 
been treated among the various tongues people has made 
it at least worth while to attempt the tongues, and, in 
itself, constitutes a suggestion from which the gift may 
develop. The further fact that the gift of tongues is 
treated as an attainment which is possible only for the 



260 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

inner circle, and that there is a possibility that by agonis- 
ing and praying for that gift it may be attained, consti- 
tutes a very forceful psychological factor which may help 
to explain the gift. 

Contagion is another psychological element which has 
something to do with the appearing of the gift. The 
gift to-day is generally manifested in a crowd and in a 
scene of confusion and tumult, which reflects no credit 
upon the Kingdom of God. The excitement of revivals, 
and the general exuberance and disorders of camp meet- 
ings, and particularly the "after meetings," are to-day 
fertile soil from which we may expect the gift to spring. 

We are not to forget the aversion to culture which 
sometimes exists on the part of the tongues people. The 
folly of all the learning of the "world's people" has ever 
been a favourite topic for the thought and discussion of 
the tongues people. The antagonism of the Shakers in 
their early days to learning is notorious. While it is 
undoubtedly true that this antagonism to culture on the 
part of the ignorantly religious and the religious ignorant 
is the expression of a "suppressed desire," it is a fact 
with which, whatever its origin, we may reckon. For 
a man or a woman destitute of all "book-learning" to be 
able to speak, under what is conceived to be the influence 
of the Holy Spirit, in languages which the learned of 
this world cannot understand, much less speak, is an 
unmistakable triumph not only for the cause of religion 
but for the individual thus gifted. 

As we have studied the history of the tongues people 
we have found increasing difficulty in assigning the 
tongues to any known language or languages. We have 
seen that Latin and Greek and Hebrew have been fre- 
quently stated to be the tongues in which the speaking 
,took place. When, however, the matter has been further 



ASPECTS OF THE GIFT 261 

investigated, we found that the Latin was uniquely 
deficient in grammatical construction, or that there are 
two kinds of Hebrew, the one of which the person 
identifying the language spoken as Hebrew is unable to 
translate. He is familiar with the other kind of Hebrew. 
"Indian" tongues have frequently been stated to have 
been the languages in question, or we have been told that 
the gift was in the language of the Pellew Islands or of 
some savage tribe in the southern Pacific Ocean. There 
are doubtless cases in which shreds of Latin, like the 
" amamimini** of Mr. Taplin, were part of the tongues — 
as well as shreds of Hebrew or Greek, or French, or 
Indian tongues. But in no case is there substantial 
evidence of any sort that the persons who claimed to 
speak by inspiration in other languages, actually used 
other languages. The testimony is universally that of the 
person who claimed to have spoken in the "other tongues" 
or of interested witnesses. Whenever men of any 
linguistic knowledge have investigated the phenomena, 
they, have united in testifying that the language spoken 
was indeed unknown. 

This conclusion of learned doctors that the language 
investigated was unknown has been seized triumphantly 
by the tongues people as a proof of the supernatural 
origin of the gift. Here is something, they tell us, in the 
presence of which the learned are helpless. And yet God 
has, through the gift of the interpretation of tongues, 
raised up in their own ranks those able to translate the 
language unknown and incomprehensible to scholars. 
With an argument of this sort it is difficult to deal. The 
only possible refutation of any gratuitous assumption in 
the field of religion is the final refutation — the ethical. 
The fruits of the tongues movement are ignorance, sel- 
fishness, conceit, dishonesty, fornication, adultery, un- 



262 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

natural vices, and blasphemy. If these be the works of 
the Spirit, then we know not what or who the Spirit is, 
or what or who God is. 

We might, however, call to mind what is believed to 
be said in the unknown tongues, as revealed through the 
gift of the interpretation of tongues. It is safe to* say 
that the message of the tongues is always eschatological. 
It deals with the duty of repentance, and with the fact 
of impending judgment and punishment, particularly for 
the enemies of the faith. It seems to be a warning of 
evil to come — as far as the messages given in the tongues 
have been translated and the translation thereof recorded 
in English. The note of praise seems to have been 
sounded in the Shaker hymns in the tongues, although 
it is just as possible that they may have been songs cele- 
brating the general worthiness and excellence of the 
Shakers. Brigham Young's prayer in the "pure Adamic 
language," as well as Mother Ann's prayers in the 
tongues, seem never to have been translated. It is diffi- 
cult to judge of their thought-content — if they had any. 

It is possible, then, to sum up the tongues as far as 
definite meaning is concerned by saying that they are a 
jargon language composed of sounds an exact classifica- 
tion of which it is impossible to make. The sounds are 
sometimes suggestive of echolalia. They are sometimes 
the products of memory — conscious or subconscious, as 
are the shreds of Latin, or Greek, or other known foreign 
languages which appear among the tongues. They are 
sometimes suggestive of the fact that the gifted is trying 
to think of another sonorous word to use and is compelled 
to fall back on shouting out words like "Ezekiel, Oba- 
diah." 

Whatever may be the meaning of the sounds actually 
uttered, there is certainly some state of mind back of 



ASPECTS OF THE GIFT 263 

the utterance. It may be the simple desire to make an 
impression, to give a demonstration of one's spiritual 
powers and of one's intimacy with the divine. If this 
is the mental condition, then we are dealing with fraud 
pure and simple; fraud that is actually fraud, whether 
it be a pious fraud or a commercial fraud. 

There are cases of the tongues which, however, must 
not be classified under the head of fraud. Where we 
deal with those persons who are impelled by an inner 
force over which they have no control, to involuntary 
utterances of broken sounds, we deal with a problem 
psychologically different certainly from that of the state 
of mind of one who is guilty of conscious fraud. The 
mental state here is doubltess analogous to what St. Paul 
was thinking about when he spoke of "whether in the 
body or out of the body." It seems to involve in it the 
elements of exaltation and of highly pleasurable excite- 
ment. States of mind characterised by exaltation and 
highly pleasurable excitement, accompanied by or fol- 
lowed by the ejaculation of irregular vocal sounds, or 
disconnected words, can be found associated with alcoholic 
intoxication, forms of epileptic seizure, and sometimes 
with coitus. We are compelled, then, to recognise that 
in the state of mind incident to spontaneous expressions 
of the tongues, we are dealing with a state of mind which 
is associated with a pathological condition as in alcoholic 
intoxication or in epilepsy, or we are dealing with a state 
of mind related to the sexual instinct. In the latter case, 
the effort to repress the sexual nature and entirely to 
eliminate it is, for the tongues people, a physiological and 
psychological absurdity. 

There is only one reason why we may look upon the 
tongues as a supernatural manifestation, and that reason 
is to be found in our desire to do so. If we wish to 



264 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

identify disease with the miraculous, there is no power 
to prevent our doing so. It has been done before. But 
there is every evidence pointing to the fact that the 
tongues in their origin are either a fraud or pathological, 
or both. 



CHAPTER IX 

ETHICAL ASPECTS OF THE GIFT 

If ecstacy were a state of mind and nothing but a state 
of mind, and a state of mind could exist without some 
sort of expression in conduct and character, we could 
probably afford to ignore the ethical problems involved 
in the gift of tongues, and we would probably be justified 
in looking upon the tongues people as pious and well- 
intentioned folks who are given a little to vagaries in 
their religious lives. 

But religion is always related for better or for worse 
to ethics. And where religion fails to find an ethical 
expression, it assuredly falls short of any adequate defi- 
nition of religion. It is certainly in the field of ethics 
that we are to subject religion to its ultimate test. Where 
a religion goes hand in hand with the development and 
expression of the noblest elements in human character, 
we are justified in arguing for the metaphysical validity 
of that religion. We are justified in commending it to 
mankind as a way of life. Where the transgression, not 
merely of social conventions but of those principles of 
righteousness upon which usefulness and happiness are 
builded, is the invariable associate and must be expected 
to be the invariable associate of a given form of religion, 
then we face the positive duty of the discouraging and, 
as far as possible, the preventing of the spread of the 
ways of thought of that type of religion. There is a 
difference to be distinguished between tolerance towards 
religion and tolerance towards crime. Where the expres- 
sion of religion is anti-moral and positively criminal, the 

265 



266 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

prevention of its propagation becomes a positive duty, 
and that prevention means especially the refusal to tolerate 
ecstatic ideas in the leadership of modern Christendom. 

We have been startled by the appalling array of crimes 
with which the tongues movement has been associated. 
When we realise that the sort of physiological conditions 
which are responsible for speaking in tongues — elimi- 
nating for the moment any psychological factor from our 
consideration — are responsible also for crimes, we may 
come to realise upon what terrifically dangerous moral 
ground we are treading. Christianity faces the menace 
and has always faced the menace of the semi-insane and 
the semi-responsible within its own ranks. 

It is a fact worthy of very serious consideration that, 
in identifying the tongues movement with holiness, we 
are identifying with holiness the criminaloid type of 
mind. Exactly the same type of mind and, for that 
matter, the same types of skull that are to be met with 
in the tongues peoples, are to be met with among crim- 
inals. There is no psychological and no fundamental 
physiological distinction which can be made between the 
man with criminal tendencies and the man with tendencies 
toward ecstatic religion. The same sort of people psy- 
chologically and physiologically are to be met with among 
the tongues people and in our penal institutions. It is 
a great deal better for society for a man to be ecstatically 
religious than it is for him to be a criminal. But there 
is always the psychological possibility of the great sinner 
becoming the great saint and the great saint becoming 
the great sinner. And there is certainly the obligation to 
prevent the theology of that type of mind from becoming 
the theology of Christendom. 

It is therefore of very considerable importance that we 
note with care the ethical associations of the tongues 



ETHICAL ASPECTS OF THE GIFT 267 

movement. The most obvious moral dereliction which 
we face among the tongues people is the variation from 
generally accepted modern standards of sexual ethics. 
The charge of sexual irregularities against forms of 
Christianity is an old charge and a frequently made 
charge. It is in the vast majority of cases an utterly 
false charge. In the case of the tongues people, however, 
it is a proved charge. Little need be said about the 
polygamous practices of ancient or modern Mormonism. 
But we can remind ourselves of it as a gross transgression 
of sexual ethics and of its origin among those leaders of 
the Mormons who were first also in ecstacies and visions. 
We can find also the element of sexual irregularity facing 
us in the account of the Devils of Loudun and, in fact, 
wherever we read the annals of witchcraft. The charge 
of promiscuity was made with some degree of evidence 
against the Camisards. The relation of Lacy and Betty 
Gray was a notorious scandal in the days of the greatness 
of the French Prophets in London. We have seen the 
evidences which suggest the existence of perverse sexual 
tendencies among the Shakers. Upon whatever psycho- 
logical or physiological grounds it may be possible to 
justify forms of sexual perversion, if they can be justified, 
they still must be regarded as distinctly anti-social prac- 
tices, fraught with tremendous moral danger for mankind. 

Through all the histories of the tongues people there 
appears and reappears the doctrine of free love or spir- 
itual marriage. It appears in one form in the Mormon 
practice of sealing as related to the dead. While it was 
apparently never a definite article in the Shaker creed, 
it was apparently often present in Shaker thought. It is 
also intimated as a possibility among some of the English 
Irvingites. 

The Irvingite movement, among the more influential 



268 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

tongues movements, contains in its historic appearance 
the least suggestion of sexual irregularity. Yet it evi- 
denced all the psychological characteristics which under 
different social conditions might have found expression 
in gross immorality. Of the three widespread modern 
movements which we have studied, Irvingism was alone 
surrounded by the social conditions of civilisation. The 
primitive conditions existing in America in the early days 
of Shakerism and the equally primitive conditions under 
which Mormonism gained its ascendancy were conditions 
under which there was an opportunity for such immor- 
ality as would not have been tolerated, at least as an 
article of religion, in London and the other cities in which 
Irvingism flourished. This is further evidenced in the 
fact that in the days of the busy proselytising for Mor- 
monism which characterised the first half of the last 
century, the fact of polygamy was not publicly mentioned. 
The great stress in preaching in connection with the 
Mormon missions in England, France and Germany was 
laid upon the claim to apostolic gifts. Mormonism has 
always had something about it of which it has not ethical 
backbone enough to be ashamed, but of which it is afraid 
to speak when it is face to face with culture. 

Another fact which might be looked upon as having 
an effect in preventing Irvingism from manifesting itself 
upon the same moral plane as Shakerism and Mormonism, 
is found in the type of men who were the early Irvingite 
leaders. The Albury prophetic group stands upon much 
higher cultural and moral ground than does Ann Lee or 
Joseph Smith, Jr. 

Sexual irregularity is always related to family life. 
The early histories of the Shakers contain constant refer- 
ences to the terrible injustices perpetrated by the Shakers 
in their attempts to gain control of families. When a 



ETHICAL ASPECTS OF THE GIFT 269 

father became a Shaker and his wife refused to, or vice 
versa, there was always the issue of the control of the 
children and, what seemed especially to interest the 
Shakers, the control of the family property. We have 
only to read accounts like that of Mary Dyer to under- 
stand just how much of bitterness and heartache was 
brought needlessly into life, and with what frequency 
lives were robbed of their joy and sunshine because of the 
perversions of Christianity which Shakerism preached. 

Another side of the picture — and at least equally tragic 
— is that painted by women who have been the victims 
of Mormon polygamy. No one can ever tell the story 
of the blighted hopes and bitter heartaches of the women 
upon whose lives Mormonism has cast its shadow. 

We do not here need to discuss the effects upon child 
life and in the upbringing of children of the sex irregu- 
larities of Mormonism and Shakerism. It is sufficient to 
call attention to the existence of those facts, and with 
those facts to note also the tendency towards the ex- 
tinguishing of sympathy, love and idealism in the lives 
of the men and women who are responsible for those sins. 

Sex crimes are not the only ethical transgressions which 
may be charged against the tongues movement. The part 
which bigotry has played in the history of Christianity 
is so familiar a one that it scarcely needs to be recalled. 
The crimes of the Inquisition and the crimes of the Refor- 
mation cast so dark a shadow upon the pages of the his- 
tory of Christendom that they cannot but tell to all the 
sadly familiar story that Christian morality is not as old 
as Christian ethics. While there is an historical expla- 
nation of the crimes committed by Christendom in the 
low level of contemporaneous moral standards, there is 
always a psychological suspicion that in the most active 
spirits and instruments in persecution we are dealing with 



270 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

degeneration. For that reason it is always to be ex- 
pected that, where religion rests upon a pathological basis 
and where the condition of civilisation is not such as to 
prevent crimes of violence, such crimes will go hand in 
hand with bigotry. 

In the case of the Camisards and of the Mormons, we 
find these facts notoriously to be true. The conditions 
of civilisation under which the Shakers lived made crimes 
of violence impossible, at the same time affording ample 
liberty for sex transgressions. The state of society in 
general, and the state of society in Utah in particular in 
the pioneer days of Mormonism, gave ample scope for 
all the criminal tendencies of the Camisards and the 
Mormons, respectively. The wars waged by the Cami- 
sards were wars waged for existence. But they were 
none the less characterised by the most brutal and savage 
reprisals and by unnecessary atrocities. The charges of 
violence against the Mormons are old and well known. 
The most familiar is the story of the Mountain Meadows 
massacre, which is said to have been organised and 
planned by leaders of the Mormon church. The state- 
ment is made that a party of emigrants, making their 
way to the California gold fields, were decoyed by the 
Mormons under a promise of protection, and later were 
attacked and destroyed by a party of Mormons disguised 
as Indians. Previous to the massacre a Mormon meet- 
ing was held. 

"The meeting was then addressed by one in authority. 
He spoke in about this language: 'Brethren, we have 
been sent here to perform a duty. It is a duty that we 
owe to God, and to our Church and people. The orders 
of those in authority are that all emigrants must die. 
Our leaders speak with inspired tongues, and their orders 



ETHICAL ASPECTS OF THE GIFT 271 

come from the God of Heaven. We have no right to 
question what they have commanded us to do; it is our 
duty to obey. . . . We must kill them all, and our orders 
are to get them out by treachery. . . .' 

"I, therefore, taking all things into consideration, and 
believing, as I then did, that my superiors were inspired 
men, who could not go wrong in any matter relating to 
the church, or the duty of its members, concluded to be 
obedient to the wishes of those in authority. I took up 
my cross and prepared to do my duty." * 

After the massacre, McCurdy, who was with Lee, from 
whose confession we are quoting (Lee was executed 
subsequently for his participation in the crime) : 

"went up to Knight's wagon where the sick and wounded 
were, and raising his rifle, said : 'O Lord, my God, re- 
ceive their spirits, it is for thy Kingdom that I do this/ 
He then shot a man who was lying with his head on an- 
other man's breast : the ball killed both men." 2 

When the work of slaughter was ended, 

"Colonel Dame then blest the brethren and we prepared 
to go to our homes." 3 

Lee informs us that his conscience greatly troubled 
him about the massacre, and that he went to talk with 
Brigham Young about the matter: 

"I went to see him again in the morning. When I 
went in, he seemed quite cheerful. He said : 

" 'I have made this matter a subject of prayer. / 
went right to God with it, and asked him to take the 

1 Lee, John D.: "Mormonism Unveiled," etc. St. Louis, Mo., 189 1; p. 237. 
3 Same: p. 241. 
8 Same: p. 249. 



272 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

horrid vision from my sight, if it was a righteous thing 
that my people had done in killing those people at Moun- 
tain Meadows. God answered me, and at once the vision 
was removed. I have evidence from God that he over- 
ruled it all for good and the action was a righteous one 
and well intended." * 

Mention may also be made of the Mormon organisa- 
tion known as the Danites, and the multitude of atrocious 
crimes alleged to have been committed under the direction 
of the organisation. 

When we are speaking of crimes of violence committed 
in the name of religion, we must not forget the crimes 
of witchcraft. The judicial tortures and the judicial 
murders committed because of a belief in witchcraft are 
not to be ignored when we review the history of the 
crimes to be written over against the account of Chris- 
tianity. Many a woman whose only crimes were poverty 
and ugliness and old age was tortured or put to death 
on charges preferred by a lying or hysteroid boy or girl. 
Whenever hysteria has ruled religion it has left behind 
it the horrid trail of crime and sin. 

Dishonesty as a characteristic of religious movements 
and of religious leaders is always the more painful and 
distressing because of the implicit trust very often reposed 
in persons who claim to be religious. For those who 
make the nicer and the fairer ethical distinctions there is 
something certainly immoral about the relations of the 
early Shakers to property. Their settlements with per- 
sons withdrawing from the society and their indifference 
to family welfare when the possibility of getting control 
of a family inheritance was in question, savour very 
distinctly of sharp practice. 

One of the most notorious of the financial undertakings 

a Same: pp. 253-4. 



ETHICAL ASPECTS OF THE GIFT 273 

of the tongues people was the Kirtland Safety Society 
Bank, the story of which we have told in connection with 
our discussion of the history of the Mormons. The 
financial relation of Joseph Smith, Jr., to Martin Harris 
is also here to be noted, as are also the frequent charges 
made against the Mormons of cattle stealing and similar 
crimes. 

Pious frauds and their histories form no little part 
of the history of the tongues movement. Laying aside 
the whole question of the Book of Mormon as a piece 
either of direct fraud or pathological lying, the story of 
the mummies and the Book of Abraham affords an 
amazing and interesting commentary upon Mormon 
ethics. Betty Gray's blindness and her subsequent resto- 
ration to sight belongs to the same class of ethical phe- 
nomena. The eagerness of the Shaker leaders to disown 
the practice of both sexes bathing together and the prac- 
tice of dancing naked is also to be classified under the 
same head. 

The relation of the Shaker movement to the vita 
sexualfo might well be regarded as an unconscious fraud. 
The fact that their abstract and dogmatic principles 
denied the sexual life and that their exercises and their 
forms of worship were fundamentally sexual brings us 
into the realm of what well may be called psychological 
fraud. 

Is nothing to be said about one of the saddest and 
bitterest of aspects of the tongues movement? The 
greatest ostensible lure of the tongues gospel has been 
the claim of God's special relation to the tongues people. 
It is because they have talked holiness and claimed holi- 
ness, because they have been much given to Bible reading 
and Bible quoting, and much given to their own kinds 
of prayer, that many men and women of uncritical minds 



274 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 

have been attracted to them. When holiness is promised 
and nothing but selfishness, bigotry, and even positive 
crimes can be found, surely not the least crime committed 
is the crime against high ideals that have been dragged 
into the dirt, and glowing hopes that have become the 
bitterness of broken hearts. 

The pathos of the Irvingite movement is to be found 
in Edward Irving. If there is no other crime which 
we may charge against the tongues people, this crime still 
stands. A man full o«f trust, of promise, of love of God 
and lo»ve of man, caught and carried to his destruction 
in the "vortex of the supernatural" ! 

We do not need, either, to be silent as we face the crime 
against intelligence which is the sine qua non of the 
tongues movement. Are we forever to listen to igno- 
ramuses, to men and women too lazy to read, to study 
and to think, proclaiming that the way of salvation is 
the way of the repudiation of all learning and all knowl- 
edge? Are we to turn back the hand of time until it 
marks again those centuries of darkness when only Fear 
was God and every man's hand was against his brother? 

There is a more serious duty than that involved in 
the simple obligation of kindliness toward the uneducated 
and the unlearned. There is the positive duty of pre- 
venting the unlearned and the unintelligent from dragging 
the darkness and mists in which they have dwelt into 
the Kingdom of God and hiding in that darkness the 
light of truth. There is a place for the unlearned man 
in the Kingdom of God. But there is no place for 
hostility to learning in the Kingdom of God. There is 
a moral obligation to be intelligent. Let us be well 
assured that the ignorance of the dark ages shall not 
again lead Christendom. 

Religion is certainly more than a speaking about things 



ETHICAL ASPECTS OF THE GIFT 275 

holy. Religion is certainly more than a claim to be holy. 
It is more than punctiliousness and care in the minor 
moralities and in the details of worship. Religion is the 
way of life which brings man up to God and brings God 
down to man. But it is God as He is whom we must 
bring down to man, the God whose very nature is antag- 
onistic to sin, whose spirit will never linger where sin 
and crime are rulers. It is God who has spoken and who 
still can speak through order and beauty and intelligence 
and the moral law. God may speak through disorder and 
tumult; God may speak through the darkness of super- 
stition and bigotry. But God speaks most often and 
most clearly through reason and the ordered paths of 
nature. The way for men to go who seek the path to 
God is not the way of fancy or of disorderly thinking, 
but the way of ordered thought and the way of man's 
clearest thinking. 

Christendom has waited long and patiently to see 
whether this thing — this gift of tongues — is of God. 
It is of sickness, of poverty, of fatigue, of disease, of 
crime. It is not of God. 



JXHE END 



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